


Hard to hope when you feel indebted.

by Reeboops



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, Developing Relationship, Hope's Peak Academy, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Relationships, M/M, Minor Character(s), Minor Soda Kazuichi/Tanaka Gundham, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, Slow Burn, Teacher AU, makoto is the head master, set in Japan, soda and tanaka are good friends, teenage warriors of hope, the ulimate talents exist they're just not called ultimates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:00:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 37,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25051300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reeboops/pseuds/Reeboops
Summary: [CANCELED PROJECT]Fresh out of training Haijme is in need of work, badly. The cripplingly debt of University unfortunately won’t miraculously magic itself away. Well, perhaps not exactly. Out of some miracle un-known to him, he manages to land a job at Hope's Peak when he moves back to his home country of Japan. Yeah, that school, though it was prestigious, it had the hearty reputation many schools dreamed of. One that would certainly pay the bills. It’s a shame he was only hired as temporary staff. But when you need money you need money.Though there are some things that aren’t worth said money, he didn’t mean he wanted to deal with a certain white haired crazy-man. A man who made him realise that the drama of school life doesn’t end just because you’re on the other side of the desk. In fact, it might just be worse, especially when he realises there’s a lot more to Hope's Peak’s past than he thought.
Relationships: Hinata Hajime/Komaeda Nagito, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 28
Kudos: 85





	1. New school, new rules.

**Author's Note:**

> I apologise for any mistakes regarding either the Japanese or American education system. I am neither, but I researched to the best of my ability.

_Nanami: You can do this Hajime! I think, (づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ_

The dim light of his phone screen glared back at Hinata. Hand clutched onto the hanging strap of the bus, as to not let it slip out of his hand. Knowing that it would only take a small pothole to send his smartphone flying. Or worse, send him flying into the poor old woman in the front row. He tried not to roll his eyes at the message. 

_You: real confidence in me huh?_

The bus driver neared his stop. Hinata could see a barrage of highschoolers walking around from the bus window. They were scattered all around the nearby pavements, and the stops near the upcoming school campus. Some had stopped to chat with friends, others were hastily making their way to class. Some just looked like they had no intention of going at all. Instead chatting and congregating near the local convenience stores. Much to the annoyance of the others just trying to shop. It was as if the bus was a submarine and they were a school of fish going about their day in the sea. A sea that was foreign to Hajime. Well, foreign was a strong word. After all, he wasn’t far out of university himself. This school though, Hope's Peak, was new.

Hinata was Japanese, but not all of his life had been spent within its schooling system. For the first half of his life, he did, until he was 12. From then his parents immigrated to some small suburb in California. Back in Japan he had felt pressured to succeed. Even from a young age, it was a ripple of pressure he didn't quite understand. A ripple that would turn into a towering wave when he got older. But the move had placed a blockage. 

Of course, all cultures placed pressure on their students. Yet the American school system? It felt more relaxed to him. Maybe it was just where he was, but it felt easier for him. That’s what he told himself. He felt like a big fish in a little pond there. Even though he was an immigrant, he had slowly Americanized his way of life. Much to the disappointment of his parents. Who insisted that he held onto his background. Which he was grateful for now, after all, it was why he could still speak the language to move back

But not then. He had been selfish. 

Hinata had resented his parents. He blamed them for the odd stares he'd get from middle-aged white Mums in the supermarket. Placed his frustration on them from the stereotypical comments he'd get from the lads. Ones that would be dismissed as "it's just banter bro." To put it best, he distanced himself from his Japanese heritage. Whenever his parents spoke to him in Japanese, he'd respond in English. They celebrated Japanese holidays, and he celebrated the 4th of July. Hinata had even changed his appearance. Drastically growing out his hair and dying it black. Hoping that it would've covered up his face more, so they were too busy going "gosh ain't his hair long" to notice anything else about him.

This endless sulking continued into his Uni life. It wasn't until his last year when his parents dragged him bitching and whining back to his home country. To the countryside to be precise, where his grandparents lived.

At first, the cramped walls and humble atmosphere irritated him. The family went out to do anything and whenever they’d ask Hinata what he thought. The answer was always the same. “Hmm, it’s better back home.” Something which would earn disappointed sighs from his parents, and peeved rants from his Grandfather. Then he saw the look in his grandmother's eyes. The pity in them. She knew he'd changed. Yet she didn't yell at him. Didn't lecture him as his grandfather did. 

On the nights where he had gone to sulk in the guest room. When he had skipped dinner, he'd hear the door sliding open. Watched as she crept in, kneeling at the small table, food in hand. Her eyes brimmed with hope. Man, that thought brought him back to then. 

**"Don't listen to your grandfather's tone young Hajime"** she smiled, nudging the food forward with her chopsticks. She'd brought two. One for her, the other for him. 

Hinata joined her reluctantly. With her eyes on him, he shifted his own gaze to pick up his own chopsticks. He nitpicked at the rice. A soft scowl on his face. 

"For someone who supposedly hasn't eaten, you're being rather picky.' She chuckled. 

"I'm not being picky-" 

"No, because you're being stubborn," she interjected with a smile. Hinata cocked an eyebrow. His hand brushed away the hair dangling from his face, trying to get a better read of her expression. 

"I don't know what you're talking about" he muttered, starting to eat his food. 

Her thin eyebrows buckled, "I think you do Hajime"

"Don't act like I do," he mumbled, "Besides why don't call me Hinata? Don't you Japanese people prefer to use last names-?"

"Because you'll always be Hajime to me, Hinata"

Hinata paused mid-bite, swallowing slowly "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that no matter how you feel pressured to adapt, you'll always be you, Hajime" she started eating her food casually. As if she wasn't just trying to elicit an identity crisis out of him. 

"Don't be ridiculous, at my new schools-"

"Who said I was talking about school Hajime?" she replied. The woman didn't hesitate to cut him off, all Hinata had to do was blink and felt like she had a come-back to it.

"Well either way I don't get pressured by anything. I'm not gullible, grandmother."

His grandmother giggled, "No, but you are human. Like how you only started eating when you thought I was staring." 

As soon as she said Hinata felt his hands lower his chopsticks to the ground, his grandmother continued, "I may be getting on in years, but I'm not blind. Nor deaf for that matter. I notice how you quickly take food when you don't think any of us are looking, so I know you're not hungry."

Hinata gulped, "You won't tell Grandpa, will you?" 

"Oh heavens no," she shook her head, "Though I have a distaste for ungratefulness as much as he does, I know that's not what's going on here is it?"

One of how her hands reached out to touch a strand of Hinata's long hair, but he squirmed away instinctively. She nodded, "It appears I have my answer."

She put her own chopsticks down. Neatly placing her hands in her lap. Her eyes averted away from Hinata. At first he thought it was in shame. That she’d finally realised he was just a lost cause. Hinata raised his head, opening his mouth to excuse himself when he noticed it. She was smiling still. _She wasn’t upset?_ Hinata felt his throat dry, unsure of what to say. He grabbed at strands of hair in the way of his view. Huffing in frustration when they kept falling back to cloud his vision. Throughout it all his Grandmother still stayed silent, she’d said what she had needed. What she had said was lingering through Hinata's mind. _You’ll always be you._

Deep down, he thought he knew what she was trying to get at.

Defeated by his hair, he broke the silence, his voice hoarse, “I don’t know what to do now grandma… I can’t exactly go back”

“No one said anything about going back Hajime,” she looked back up at him, “What you need to do is move forward”

Hinata titled his head, “How can I-? I’m in too deep at this point. I can’t just click my fingers and that part of my life’s gone.”  
  


“You’re thinking too much in black and white Hajime. You think there can only be hope or despair. It’s either night, or it’s the day. There’s a reason the afternoon exists y’know” she rambled on. He didn’t quite understand the need for her extended metaphors and allegorys, but a switch flicked back on in his head as he listened.

“Just because you live there now doesn’t mean your ethnicity has suddenly changed. You’ll always know where you came from. You’re allowed to embrace your culture in America whilst still partaking in theirs. Just as you would if you moved back here.” 

Hinata’s voice still falter, “But they stare-”

His grandma laughed, “Of course they’ll stare. Everyone does. You just have such low expectations that you think you’re the problem”

He drummed his fingers on the wood of the small table, he let out a little huff of amusement “You talk like you have some first-hand experience in this.”

“Perhaps I do,” Her eyes shone knowingly, “But we don’t have time for history lessons or your premature angst. So eat, your food is getting cold”

“What if I’m not hungry?” Hinata smirked.

“Then give it to me because I sure am I!” she joked, eating as if she’d be holding back, He smiled and pushed his food other toward her. Hinata stayed at the table. Exchanging in small talk as she watched her happily gulf down her food. For the longest time in forever, he felt contempt. Once she was done, he took the plates off of her and walked towards the sliding door of the guest room. He was about to exit when he felt a tug on his arm. He looked back to see his Grandma. A smile plastered on her face. She opened her mouth to speak.

**“Young man, you’re going to miss your stop if you don’t get off the bus!”**

Hinata snapped back, the feel of the bumpy road suddenly gone when he realised the bus had stopped and people were getting off. Well, most people except this old lady that was tugging at his shirt sleeve. She had soft features, but a clearly feisty determination.

“Your education is important, you should pay more attention to your surroundings than your phone,” she stated, her eyes gesturing to the phone still in his hand.

_Education..?_

Then it clicked.

“Oh no ma’am I’m not a high school student!” he dismissed her awkwardly, “Though you are right this is my stop thank you.”

The old lady looked a little flustered as she nodded, and wandered her way off the bus. Clearly, she wanted to pretend that didn’t happen. After he waited for the women to get off, he left with a nod to the driver. One who looked like he was trying not to laugh at the exchange between his two passengers. Small stones crunched underneath his feet as his shoes scraped the concrete. The bus hissed as the wheels started again and it drove off. Leaving Hinata alone on the pavement. He mumbled to himself as he started walking. Still figuring out if he should’ve taken it as a compliment or not that the lady thought he was a highschooler. Though under his circumstances, he knew he couldn’t blame her.

You just had to look at Hinata to understand. He was normal. Painfully so.

The tie, shirt, and backpack combo didn’t help. It looked like a downgraded version of the academy’s uniform. Definitely not the suit and business briefcase he was expecting of the other teachers. Perhaps that was something he should look into when the funds for a wardrobe upgrade. Maybe those reasons he used to justify his worry. Sure he was going to a similar environment, As his Grandma would say, “apples and oranges still have different names for a reason.”

He was going on the other side of the desk this time. Being equipped with such little experience in doing so as well. Having an appearance that could fail in either way. Make him stick out like a sore thumb, or blend in so much no one would be able to separate him from the crowds of students. His hair wasn’t particularly convincing of his maturity either. After he’d cut off most of it, the hair gradually returned back to its natural brown tone. Then he left it to its own devices. Leaving it to form a style was a weird mix between an office worker and a boy band reject. And he was fine with that because he didn’t really know what to do with it 

Which probably summed up his life best; unsure.

It was why his new roommate, Nanami, had insisted he be a test runner for an app her work colleague had made. Since he’d got the interview as a "reserve" English teacher, the panic strolling and constant questioning must’ve led to the conclusion Hinata needed some help. Of course, Hinata had tried these “turn your life around” apps before. When you lack anything special there’s no talent to fall back on in a determination famine. Yet when he downloaded it, Usami wasn’t quite what he thought. Imagine if a personal assistant and Siri had a love child. Who was an animated bunny? Who claimed to be a “magical girl.” Who was cutesy. 

_Yeah, no wonder this was Nanami approved, what did she even do for a living if this is what her colleague made?_

Truthfully, he didn’t know much about his roommate, other than her obsession with games and her general aesthetic. Which made sense, Hinata had his own life, and more importantly his own debt to worry about. Hinata had worked quite a bit during university to help pay for his student loans. However, that money suddenly disappeared when he made up his mind about moving back to Japan. He’d acted on a whim, but much to his surprise was allowed to live back in the country. He supposed being bilingual was a desirable skill for the country. Though perhaps less to the places he was applying to. 

Interview after interview and he never heard back. Even with encouragement from Nanami, he felt out of luck. Until he got a call back for Hope’s Peak. For their role of a “reserve” English language teacher no less. He didn’t get what the reserved bit meant until the interview. It meant they’d only need him for roughly a year and a half whilst one of their staff members was recovering from a fatal accident. So a temporary gig, but Hinata had no problem. Especially when he saw the yen would be more than enough to keep him afloat and chip away at his loans. At least until he could find a better full-time gig. 

With the monetary relief, however, came the workload burden. People had warned him that planning was the worst part of being a teacher, and they were right. With the surprising lack of information, the school had provided him it was especially so. He had the number of classes, which classes, the curriculum, and that was it. He knew that his job would also have him be a homeroom teacher for a class. So the fact that he wasn’t even given the names of his future class was baffling.

That’s where Usami came in. Despite her sometimes annoying presence, she was very helpful in reminding him how most Japanese schools function. 

In a way the bunny reminded him of those gimmicky emote apps. Y’know. Those messengers with the cutesy mascots that had spread like wildfire here in Japan. Except instead of being used to communicate, it tried to communicate with Hinata. Sometimes too much.

Nanami had told him to see the app as a virtual friend. “Who could lend a hand of hope until he could make some friends at work”. Personally, he just liked to refer to it as cutesy spyware. To each their own. 

After all, it had been helpful, spyware, or not.

Hinata hadn’t been given long left to maul over the past month as he soon arrived at the entrance of Hope's Peak Academy. The giant, daunting, entrance that is.

Hinata glanced back down at his phone, sighing after seeing no further messages. The Usami app notification was ignored as he shoved the phone into his pocket. Sure, he could humor Nanami’s idea, but he didn’t have the time to entrust his new career to it. Not when Hope's Peak was just a step away

Taking that final deep breath, he turned. His head half down, half-up, he walked into the academy. 

\----

If Hinata thought entering the academy was like being thrown in the ocean, then waiting for his guide was the drowning process. 

His foot tapped on the floor for the 50th time outside that principal’s office. An anxious pout rested on his face as he stared at the pinboard. Somehow hoping the same posters on the wall might shape-shift to distract him. Despite how impressive of a school Hope’s Peak was, the grand hallways were still as boring as any other. Then again there are only so many ways you can spice up something as boring as a hallway. Slap in a few chairs and the odd potted plant and you’re done. Maybe even a bin if students strolled in here often enough. The only impressive thing was the height of the halls. All the archways loomed over you, It was akin to something out of medieval European architecture, but with a culturally-ambiguous modern skin carefully applied over top. It gave the hallways a weird echo, but the rest of the establishment seemed normal in terms of sound.

The only other thing he had to contemplate was the muffled sounds of discussion from inside the office. It was pretty hard to hear as there were various voices. Though there were two that distinguished themselves the most. One more boyish voice, another more tactical. But after a while of trying to eavesdrop on what they were saying, he hadn’t gotten far. All he’d managed were the words, 'Makoto', 'reserve' and ‘hypothetically’. Boy, did one of them like to say that a lot.

Hinata gave it a full five minutes before he gave in and switched on his phone. Sure it might seem unprofessional to be on it, but there was no harm if there was no one here. As he did, the Usami notification beeped again. Realizing it was the only voice he’d be able to decipher for a while, he tapped and poof, the magical girl came to life. 

“Oh, Mister Hinata! I’m glad you finally responded.” Usami greeted, shaking around on the screen, “I’ve been meaning to speak with you about something.”

A half-hearted chuckle escaped his mouth “You’re always trying to speak, what is it?”

Usami turned and jumped up on the apps, pulling up the calendar app before she continued. One of her paws pointed at the day circled.

“If my memory data serves me right, this is the first day of your new job, correct? Well, I’ve been through your search history-”

_Oh god no._

“-And after using my ultra-cute-magic™, I’ve come to the conclusion that this job has been making you really restless! Your endless questions regarding the academy our one’s you surely would’ve been filled in on when you landed the job.”

Hinata just muttered a bone-dry reply. This thing started to sound like his Mother. Not only because it insisted on telling him what he already knew, but making him feel like more shit for knowing. _Of course, I’m going to restless, I’m not on their level._ The expression on his face contorted slightly, his brows furrowed and eyes distant. Usami titled her in response, almost as if she was trying to register his facial expression. _It didn’t have access to my camera, did it? Eh, probably, but even then there’s no way it can read expressions-_

“Hinata, could you grant me access to your location please?”  
  


“Huh-, um that’s a lil sudden, why now? Aren’t you already stealing my information?” Hinata stumbled a little as he was brought out of his thoughts.

Usami’s eyes sulked, her avatar waddled closer to the screen, “Because Usami’s here to help… and you refused to grant me such when you booted up the app. But mostly the help part! So far you’ve been using me as a glorified Siri. Yet I assure you as a magical girl that I am so much more than that. Please Hinata, I can’t help if I don’t know the layout I’m meant to be working with. It’s very hard to find the layout of the school, and there’s only so much stuff I can legally access on your behalf.”

“Okay, give me a moment.” Hinata’s eyes trained back on the screen. He noticed how Usami had shrunk herself down, lingering in the corner. She was waving her arms with urgency, unsure if she was just excited or impatient as he went through his settings. Thumbing through the countless conjunctions of text he didn’t care for. His eyes squinted as he tried to read all the crammed text. Shutting out his surroundings so he could hone in on getting Usami to lay off. After some scrolling, he finally found the tab for the toggle he was looking for. Hinata went to swipe it when he heard a distant, echoed cough.

“Don’t cough at me, I’m trying to get it done as soon I can for you.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t aware you were the one doing a favor for me. For I do believe we’d get this tour of yours done much faster if you just followed me. Hajime Hinata, was it?”

As soon as his ears pricked up, they went red. That wasn’t Usami’s voice. His eyes shot up from his phone to the figure hovering to his left. Hand still resting on the principal’s door.

He noticed various other people were filing out of the principal's officer behind the man. Leading Hinata to believe the office was the magical carry-all bag of rooms. All chattering almost themselves. He noticed they were all dressed far more casually, they weren’t students were they? No, they weren’t in uniform. As he stared, a lone crowd member with white hair glanced back at Hinata. Head high, but body language low. The stranger didn’t stare for long as the posh man soon shot him a glare. 

The man had a tight atmosphere around him, he wasn’t even standing that close to Hinata, yet the reserve teacher still hitched his breath in his presence. His blonde hair was cut straight and to the point. White glasses perfectly framed his neck-snapping stare, along with an expression that let you know he’d talk to your manager. Though, judging by clothes, he probably was the highest up there was. It was nothing extravagant, but his suit was immaculate. Crisp, clean, and looked as if it had been tailor-made for him that morning. The taller figure stood still, adjusting his glasses. Not because he needed to, but because he was being a dick.

Dick or no dick, Hinata still stood to attention. Having abandoned Usami’s request he rushed to shove the phone back in his pocket and swung his backpack bag over his shoulder. Adjusted the best he could, he extended his hand for the man.

“My apologies, I got, um caught up in something. Yes, I’m Hajime Hinata, the new reserve student Mister, um-?” He scanned the man’s face, searching for some hint of a soft edge. The man wearing his hand waved his hand in the air to dismiss Hinata’s greeting. He turned his back on him and began walking away from the office. Left to merely blink, Hinata soon tailed after him.

“There’s no need to waste a Togami’s time with such introductions,” well at least he knew his name now, “However, I shall excuse our first encounter on behalf of me being late. Whilst, on one hand, it was because he was having to talk about you. On the other hand, tardiness doesn’t jeopardize _me_. We’re even, understood?”

Togami tossed him a glance over his shoulder. Hinata nodded, earning a pleased hmph from the blonde.

“Very well.” 

They walked in the halls for a while, giving Hinata a chance to take in his surroundings properly. Togami would occasionally bless him with information but left Hinata to figure out which room was for which class for the most part. Thank goodness for signs.

These halls had a much more low key and familiar atmosphere than the principal corridor. The walls were still ridiculously high, but he didn’t realise how much he’d missed the sliding doors and windows. Plus the addition of students starting to roam the halls too made him feel less alone. His hitched breath gradually relaxed as the tour continued. It went on a far bit before they stopped on the second floor.

Eventually, Togami stopped outside of one of the classroom doors, cutting off his sentence. 

Hinata noticed Togami look down at his watch and he subconsciously copied him. 8:32. Students' school be in their classes by now, if not heading to them. Something Togami's extra rushed tone seemed to back up, "Hm, what a bother. It seems the security camera explanation will be put on halt."

Togami huffed and turned around once more. Finally addressing Hinata face to face. Without warning, he thrust a briefcase forward. _wait had he been carrying that his whole time-?_

"The backpack's cute, but I assure you this will be more useful to you," he gave Hinata a self-assured smile and handed it to him, "All of your required files along with a printed schedule is in here. Think of it as a survival kit. Though I assume you already have some of it. After all, you should've planned for your lessons." 

_Survival?_ Hinata nodded as he brushed it off. Having secured his backpack on properly he took a quick peep inside the briefcase. Just as Togami had described there were just a bunch of papers. All of them neatly clipped, stacked, and labeled accordingly. It was too dark inside the case for him to completely read them, but he gathered they were accurate. Alongside the files, there were also odd objects stationed in there. One a newer lanyard for his school ID, the other a card of some sort and a USB. Probably a digital version of the whole set up. He made a mental note to download what was new of it later as he shut the case. When the black leather of the case stopped obscuring his view he noticed he had a new view of the wall. Just the wall. Togami had buggered off. Perfect.

Eyes darted around searching for the slim dick in a suit but to no avail. He moved around a bit, seeing if a different angle would help catch a glimpse of him around the corner. Still no. 

What caught his attention, however, was the sound he could hear as he got closer to the classroom door. The one Togami had so politely ditched him at. 

"You should stay at your own desk y'know, Monca doesn't like it when you act like this"

"What are you doing upsetting Monaca! That's toatz not adorbz at all."

Hinata felt his frown redact into his face at that line. _Adorbz? How old were these students?_ Whilst Hinita hadn't gotten the chance to go into any of the other classrooms, they had all seemed rather calm while they waited for their homeroom teacher to arrive. Quite the contrary to whichever poor teacher had these students. Though, speaking of which-

Hinata pulled out his phone to see Usami on the screen, looking rather worried. 

“Oh great, you didn’t forget about the location! It would really great Hinata if you could-”

“Sorry Usami that might have to wait a while, you can access my email files right?” he asked.

Usami looked disappointed, but nodded all the same, as she disappeared for a bit, before replying, “What exactly is it you’re looking for?”  
  


“Can you confirm which class I’m meant to be taking for Homeroom please?” I know it’s meant to be on the second floor. Class 2b I’m pretty sure.”  
  


Usami remained silent for a second more before a ping rang on his phone and her avatar popped back onto the second with its usual poof.

“Nope my magic’s proven you wrong I’m afraid Hinata. Your homeroom class is 2a, 2b is the class you have for your first lesson. Is there anything else I can help you with?”

Hinata shook his head, slipping the phone back in his pocket, the sudden realisation hitting him. He looked up at the sign of the classroom and there it was written as clear as day. Class 2a. The homeroom class he’d be stuck with for his whole one and a half years here. Great.

Fingers crossed, he slid open the door of the classroom to a loud thWACK!

The second he did Hinata saw an object fly just past his cheek, cutting it. Thank goodness it didn’t get any closer, instead of landing with the thwack on the floor. He didn’t have the time to process what it was as he clenched his teeth shut. Not wanting to cuss out his class on the first day. When he removed his hand from the small wound he saw there wasn’t a lot of blood and breathed a sigh of relief. Instead of turning his attention to his surroundings. First the object, a pair of scissors. Oh lovely, Next, the little shit who had thrown it. He didn’t have to look for long to see the perpetrator. A red-head boy with headphones was quickly clambering down from one of the desks. His friend next to him looked more panicked than him as Hinata’s eyes glanced in their general direction. His body shivered and the pupils of his grey eyes grew smaller. For someone that seemed so frenzied, his voice was oddly slow.

“I’m sorr-y, I should have stopped him sir, I’m sorr-y. You don’t hate me now-w, do you?”

Not wanting to be rude, Hinata shook his head, but he didn’t get the time to ask questions. 

“Who exactly are you?” another one of them asked. This time in the front row, one who seemed to be sitting properly. A pleasant change. With the realisation he had to activate teacher mode, Hinata, straightened his posture.

“Your new homeroom teacher Sensei Hinata, though I don’t believe I have you for the subject, I’ll also be one of the academy’s English teachers.”

The class was silent before a collective groan swept across it. A green haired girl chose to speak up. 

“That’s such a shame really, we much preferred big sis,” her eyes fell down the floor as she aimlessly played with the bear accessories in her hair.

_Big sis?_ Hinata chose to gloss over it, he offered them a half-hearted “oh I’m sorry” before bending down to pick up the scissors on the floor. Why didn’t know, they did just throw these at him. He scanned the students again before he found the red-head he was looking for. The one who pretended not to notice his new teacher. He wasn’t doing a very good job, as they soon made eye contact. Hinata just sighed, something he knew he’d be doing a lot from now on, and made his way up to his new desk. He slid his backpack off his shoulders, onto the chair, whilst placing the briefcase Togami had gifted him on the desk. Once opened he could see the content a lot better than before. Soon finding the register, which fortunately had a numbered list of photos paperclipped to it. Cross-referencing it, he now had a name to fit the red, spiky haired scissor thrower. 

“Daimon?”

The boy pretended to not hear him.

“Daimon!” Hinata raised his voice.

Still nothing.

“Look Daimon please tell me why you were throwing scissors. It’s extremely dangerous.” Hinata asked, though at this point he’d end up pleading.

“Wow, did you have to get your degree to figure that one out?” The blue-haired boy mumbled, earning a few chuckles from the students. After hearing one of his classmates speak, Daimon finally replied.

“I just felt like it. Jeez I don’t see the big deal”  
  


 _Let’s just ignore the fact he doesn’t consider almost stabbing his teacher a big deal._ Hinata had to bite his tongue. If this were an American school he could’ve just slapped this kid in detention and called it day. But for a start, he wasn’t given such an easy route in the Japanese school system. That and something about these kids told him they needed more than just a telling off to help them. Something about the way they acted. How most of them flinched whenever Hinata so much as got them worried them. They didn’t even have to move, it was just the look in their eyes. Even now Daimon held his arms to his chests, his fists clenched, but his eyes indicated to Hinata that he wasn’t angry.

“We can talk about it on Monday if you need me to, just refrain from injuring people again” Hinata dismissed the case. Instead, he pulled out a pen from his pocket, and scanned over his register. It was a good thing they had let him start Friday so he had the weekend to memorize them all. That and so he could drink when he got home. Lord knows did he need a drink. 

“Alright, since I don’t know any of you that well, we’re doing things the way my teacher used to,” He paused and flipped through the register, looking for the name of the blue-haired boy.”We start with Shingetsu. Let me know your name and one thing about you. We don’t have much time, so go”

Caught off guard by the activity, Shingetsu and the others obliged. Some seemed more interested in boasting about themselves than others. Daimon however sat there, his fist slowly un-clenched. He too was confused, but more so why he hadn’t just been sent to the guidance counselor. A grin crept onto his face as he thought to himself,

“Huh maybe this Sensei ain’t so bad.”


	2. Being a Nervous wreck must be a requirement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back. Originally this was going to be a 10 chapter fanfic, but then noticed way too many characters were going to get introduced in one chapter, so split kinda it in half? I say kinda because from chapter 3 onward the chapters will get a lot longer.  
> I might do the same for the other chapters I have planned out I'm not sure.
> 
> Also I don't have a schedule for this. I'm aiming for once a week, but it might be a few days late sometimes ^^'

**Student Name** : Monaca Towa

 **Student Number** : XXXX

**Second year student**

**Class** : 2a

**General observation** : Outgoing and relatively charismatic. The class rep of class 2a. Succeeds best in group activity. Struggles to study solo sometimes. 

**Club Activity** : 

"W------ o- H---"

**Last known exam results** : XX

XXX

XX

XXX

**To keep in mind** :

  * T--ub--ng fa-ily h-s----
  * Kn--n m-ni--lat--n a-d bu---i-g -f o---r st---n-s 
  * F-ke- L—g -e-m i-j-r-y



The light sound of pages being turned could be heard throughout the silence of the classroom. Hinata had subjected himself to the files he'd found in the gifted briefcase. Much to his surprise that something along these lines had even been included in his welcome packet. Of course, he’d expected _some_ information about his homeroom class. After all, it was part of his job to monitor their progress. Yet he was expecting grades. Student IDs. Maybe a record of achievement or hell even their allergies. Those were there, but the more he flicked through, the more those figures seemed irrelevant to him.

With some students, he found out basic facts. One girl had a peanut allergy. Another had asthma. One of the boys had terrible attendance - you get the idea real fast. Then there were those five.

Monaca Towa. Nagisa Shingetsu. Jataro Kemuri. Kotoko Utsugi. And, the all too familiar, Masaru Daimon. 

Just like every other student, their pages were in the same format. Yet for some unknown reason, they’d been tampered with. Not all his students, just these five. Not all their information, just some of it. Whatever it was that someone didn’t want Hajime to know. Initially, he’d just brushed the first file off as a printing mistake. That maybe there were streaks from a lack of ink in the printer. Or the work of a faulty photocopier, or something less suspicious. However, Hinata wasn’t going to justify the stretch that these five, in particular, had all suffered from the same incompetence of office equipment. Hinata had been so bothered as to add sticky notes to the tabs of their pages. He was sure of their connection.

Now Hinata was a teacher, not a conspiracy theorist admittedly, but wellll-

“Sensei?”

One of the girls in the front row raised her head up from her pile of textbooks, pen still in hand. When Hinata looked up she continued, “I know you said the next chapter of the textbook might be hard to translate, but is it okay if I give it a go? I don’t think I’ll need your help with this one.”

Yeah, he was bored senseless. 

He merely nodded to the diligent student who went about her work without another word. This class was way too angelic for their own good. His homeroom class may have given him a frightening welcome, but at least they demanded his attention. A huff escaped his lips as he stared at his spider-web of analysis. So far Hinata had deciphered some of what was missing from the five’s files. Linking what he could as he went along. He knew that all of them shared at least one club together, the "W------ o- H---". Meaning, they were all friends beyond just sharing a class. Since from the small sample pool of clubs he had, there was no resemblance to this club's initials. In the future, he was tempted to bug Togami for a school club list. For now though, he had to work on the assumption that these guys were exclusive members of the “WOH”. As for the club name, he’d managed to find one of the words! That word was ‘of’, but he wasn’t going to knock it. Progress was progress. It was similar to doing a crossword when he thought about it, but harder. A, remove all the context clues, scatter all sentences and smudge the letters, level of harder.

Hinata scribbled down some more his thoughts onto the small spider diagram he had going on. He’d written it in English instead of Japanese. Having justified it as “well I’m in an English lesson”, rather than facing whatever instinct had kicked in. Besides, it made it easier to bullshit an excuse if a student had approached; “school work.”

Without much left to go off, he turned back to his main point of interest amongst the WOH. 

**Student Name** : Masaru Daimon. 

**Student Number** : XXXX

**Second year student**

**Class** : 2a

**General observation** : Great at sports-related activities/subjects and full of a bombastic sense of triumph at his achievements. The lead-in many of his sporting achievements. Has issues staying still when it comes to doing theory work. Thrives in a team environment, mostly when he’s in charge.

**Club Activity** : 

"W------ o- H---"

Hope's Peak Baseball Team.

**Last known exam results** : XX

X

XX

X

**To keep in mind** :

  * T--ub--ng fa-ily h-s----
  * A t-n-en-y o- -iol-nt ---av-o-r
  * S-l- -e--r-ct-v- -c-i-n-
  * Will refuse to take off the headphones



When your first impression of someone is them throwing scissors at you, it’s hard to shrug them off. It was to the point where it had even distracted his teacher from scolding him about his headphones. That of which Hinata took yet another mental note to fix later, no matter what the file said. Hinata may have let his behavior slide professionally, but it was something he couldn’t let go of personally. For multiple reasons. Not only had the cut sunk in more than he expected, but so had what the Nurse told him about Daimon.

  
  


**"I mean… not that it's any of my business, b-but I really don't understand that boy-" The Nurse mumbled under her breath as she leaned in closer to wipe the blood off Hinata's face.**

After Hinata had left his homeroom class to their own giggling devices, he was on his way to his first class. Well, was. Togami had other plans. Somehow, in the few steps, it took to get from 2a to 2b, the dick in a suit had managed to bump into him. Hinata had no intention of chit chat and just uttered an apology. Togami meanwhile, 

"You are aware of how highly unprofessional it would be to address your students whilst you're currently bleeding out, correct?" 

"Um, I'm sure it'll be fine; it's just a little scratch," Hinata responded, his free hand ran across his cheek to check. His oddly wet cheek. He gently pushed against the wounded area with his fingers before removing it to find blood. Expected. He put his whole hand to his face and removed freshly dripping blood. Enough to cover his whole hand - yeah he needed to go to the Nurse. No wonder those little shits had been giggling when he left.

As he opened his mouth to ask, Togami cut him off, 

"You don't know where the Nurse's office is? Do you?" 

A new kind of crimson spread across his face as his gaze sunk down to the floor in quick defeat. Togami let out a huff, something about wasting his time, probably something else, but Hinata had drowned him out in favor of just following him. Under his best effort to multitask as he walked, with having to carry two bags and shield his face simultaneously. The last thing he needed was the odd or concerned glances from the other teachers also switching classes. Togami dragged Hinata down a flight of stairs, several hallways, and almost to the far end of the school wing before they reached the medical room. Hinata made a note to remember the way; he was going to need it with his homeroom class. 

As usual Togami power-strutted off before Hinata had even opened the door, he wouldn't expect any less from him. 

To get it over and done with, Hinata slid open the door. 

Instantly the smell of freshly washed linen and medical remedies hit him when he did. Not the best mix, but at least it wasn't a strong chemical smell. For a place that would usually feel so unnatural for Hinata, each step inwards made him feel warmer. Quite the contrary to the actual temperature, he did have goosebumps, but it was a pleasant kind of warm. The kind that you'd feel if you lived in one of those Pinterest-perfect cottages, or your Nan's house. The wholesome kind. It was fittingly small as well.

Cabinets crammed full of medical supplies were huddled in the left corner. Alongside some waiting chairs, an examination table in the middle, and a computer desk, an empty chair combo. The whole desk had stacks and stacks of what was probably important files. How the nurse found what they wanted in them he had no idea. 

On the right side, the layout was more stretched out with a row of five or so beds. All with immaculately bluish-white sheets and no inhabitants. Almost that is. 

On the bed closest to Hinata, a man was hunched over on the bed. He had blended in so well that Hinata hadn't noticed him at first. Most of him looked pale, he even had a white shirt which didn’t help. The only reason his skin was distinguishable was because of his hands. They looked sore. One of his hands laid in a subtle clawing motion on top of the other. The irritation seemed to spread from the fingertips, all the way up to the crease in his elbow. It’s pattern imitated that of a rash, it was a patchwork of red. Hinata found himself struggling to look away. Noticing even the smaller details, like the missing skin on his fingertips and the fading white of claw marks. Hinata shook his head, now wasn’t the time to investigate, he still had a class to get back to.

_Let’s just get healed, and get out._

With no nurse in sight, it looked like the stranger was the best option.

The stranger’s pale hair was so messy it obscured Hinata’s view of his face, but that spark of recognition washed over him non less.

“Um, excuse me-?” 

Hinata kept his voice gentle. A grey eye moved from under the mop of hair and they shot back up. Propping themselves up with the hands, which they now kept stashed behind their back.

“My bad, I didn’t notice you come in. But, it’s no wonder someone as useless as I didn’t notice you.” the stranger’s voice seemed drowsy, yet still emphasized at certain words with a kick. Already Hinata was sure how to interpret any part of this dude, or his behavior. 

“Let me guess… you’re looking for the nurse?”

Grey eyes landed on the streak of blood smeared on Hinata's cheek and he nodded. That awkward flush creeping back onto his face. 

The stranger smiled and nodded their head towards the waiting chairs. Hinata took the hint and dropped his bags, _shit they probably made me look even more like a mess,_ by one of them. Awkwardly, he shuffled into one of the chairs, eliciting a chuckle from the other man.

“Rough morning?” 

“You have no idea,” 

They stayed in silence for a hot second, before the stranger luckily carried the conversation for him.

“How did you get all that blood from such a small cut?” he asked. His eyes hadn’t left Hinata’s face and they were prodding at Hinata’s predicament just as Hinata’s had done to him. Fair enough.

Hinata raised his free blood-covered hand to indicate how it was smeared, “Yeah, I probably made it worse though. Or who knows, maybe the kid just had really good aim and hit something.”

“So it was a student's fault?”  
  


He shook his head, “Eh I wouldn't say it was, not entirely. He wasn’t aiming for me when he threw the scissors, I just happened to be opening the door when he was doing target practice I guess.”

“Was he a redhead by any chance?”  
  


Hinata blinked, “Yeah, how did you-” 

“Lucky guess, it appears I was right. Daimon, he’s in one of my classes,” the stranger interrupted, “It was in my lesson actually when he picked up the new phase. I made the mistake of mentioning that serial killer, Genocider Syo. Turns out he thought it was ‘pretty badass’ how she used scissors like that.”

“You’re a teacher?”

Despite the obvious remark, he smirked, “One of the few in my department. How about you? I haven’t seen you around before, and I know everyone. Unless..”

He raised his hand to his cheek to think, “Yes that’s right they opened up the security job not long ago, you’re the new guy.”

“Um, well-“

Hinata didn’t get a chance to reply as a woman came bustling into the office. Her dark hair trailing behind her.

“I’m so really sorry Nagito. Nevermind was using the photocopier so I had to wait to copy your paperwork and.. eek-” 

She dropped the files when she saw Hinata sitting in the waiting chair, 

“Aaa, I didn't think anyone could get hurt in the small time I was gone- oh no you look pretty bad uuh- I ” Her eyes twitched between the files on the floor and Hinata. Her meek posture made her look more in need of assistance than Hinata. 

Hinata and the man exchanged glances.

The nurse reminded him more of a patient than she did a medical professional. She was more bandaged than the white-haired man was. Moreover, her posture was just as feeble as his. 

Said man must’ve seen the look in Hinata’s eye and he raised his hands in a calm manner. As if he’d done this a hundred times.

“Tsumiki,” the man had gotten off the bed to pick up the files and she seemed to get the hint. An assured nod was sent her way and she took a deep breath.

“Aa yes, you’re right,” 

Tsumiki straightened herself up as she rushed over to the cabinet. Her hands were still shaking slightly as she pulled a first aid kit, but she seemed to have that previously missing oomph of professional urgency in her step this time. She let out a defeated whine as some of the supplies toppled out from the cabinet. A loose packet of plasters spilled over the floor and some of the pills bottles rolled away on the tiled floor. Hinata got up to help. When he got close her same tone buzzed in his ear and he backed up. The Nurse was edging on that worried state again. Her eyes darted around. He managed to catch her gaze first and pointed to the supplies. She looked up at him with pale grey eyes for a split second before turning away. She uttered some kind of apology as her face flustered. Tsimiki’s hands reached for the scattered plasters

_Perhaps she was just a really shy person_.

Hinata went to retrieve the lost bottles. A few had barely gone far, meaning Hinata could pick them up no hassle. The signature orange tint of the other one glinted at him from underneath one of the beds. Fortunately, the man on the bed caught wind of what was going on and shuffled forward. With one lanky leg dangled off the edge, he angled his foot back to kick it to Hinata.

Before he had time to thank him, Tsumiki called out for him. Having gathered the bottles Hinata turned around. The site he was greeted with was that of Tsumiki battling with the cabinet. Normally it would be quite the comic site, and it was in all fairness. Yet Hinata had a feeling Tsumiki was probably going to lose said battle and walked over. After some troublesome balancing and many apologies, the cabinet was restored to it’s over-packed glory.

Whilst Hinata was double-checking, Tsumiki returned to her work.

With a hand on Hinata’s wrist, she ushered him over to the observation table. She properly introduced herself as Mikan Tsmuki this time. After some more quiet rambles, she pulled out various different types of wipes and plastering from the box. She looked back at the cut as if to see which one was the best match. Whilst she did, she asked the standard list of questions. How long ago did this happen? How bad was the pain? What happened, what you’d expect really. 

Occasionally Hinata caught a glimpse of the man, Nagito was it? Watching the two with a small smile. He must’ve been waiting for Tsumiki as he had discarded the papers. Hinata smiled back before he returned to explaining Daimon’s scissor throwing antics. 

"I mean… not that it's any of my business, b-but I really don't understand that boy-" The Nurse mumbled under her breath. She leaned in closer to wipe the blood off Hinata's face. 

He tried to not hiss at the sting of the cut, he looked at Nagito “Who, him.. Or?”

A little surprised Hinata heard her, she giggled,

“Aa well both, but I was referring to young Daimon.”

“Does he throw scissors at many people often then?”

“No..” she paused, her eyes shaking, “He frequents my office for other reasons. Oh, aa, he has thrown them before though. Whilst I would never encourage violence, I was guilty of laughing when Togami threw a fit about almost being hit. I’ve never seen a man whine so much. It didn’t even craze him, poor Daimon.”

The nurse continued to talk more, but Hinata switched her off as background noise. It didn’t take a genius to know Daimon was an interesting student. There was something about his mannerisms that would take five minutes in a room with him for someone to notice. What exactly he had noticed Hinata wasn’t positive about. Until now he was willing to be a bit blissfully ignorant about the whole thing. To treat him like any other troublemaker, just self-consciously be softer in his approach. The image of Daimon getting hurt by other means though-

His mind switched back to the room when he realised Mikan had yet to stop her panicked stories.

_I’m pleased that she’s talking more, but-_

“What other reasons?” 

The hand that was on his cheek pushed too hard on his skin at the question. Hinata clenched his teeth at the subtle pain of her nails grazing against open flesh. She soon pulled back.

“Eek- aa I’m sorry, I can’t tell you that .. I was only allowed to tell his homeroom teacher and she’s-”

“Um, I’m his new homeroom teacher,” Hinata responded, to which he was met with uncomfortable silence in the room. 

Tsumki had ceased cleaning up the wound and bit her lip. As if she was waiting for the moment to be over. Then, Hinata heard some fidgeting from Nagito’s direction. He looked over to the man for help, but Nagito’s smile had been replaced with a frown. Calling it a frown would be too generous. His entire face had shifted. Those grey eyes averted to the side. They were normally wide, almost in awe at what he was looking at. Now they were just half-lidded. And when he did justify Hinata’s gaze by looking back, it hit differently. It was like a swirl of emotions were projected onto Hinata with a mere look.

Nagito slid off the bed and reached for papers Tsumiki had given him. A sliver of hope lingered in Hinata when he walked towards them, only to be shattered when Nagito leaned past him, as if he wasn’t even there. The counter was accessible from the other side as well, but no. As far as Nagito seemed concerned, he wasn’t. Not about elbowing him just to put some files down. When he straightened back up, he gestured goodbye to Tsumiki. 

“I have to get back to class.” his tone was as blunt as his actions.

Nagito leaned over one more time to get a green jacket and then left without another word. 

Soon, both Tsumiki and Hinata tried to break the silence. 

“Whoops, I-I guess I made it awkward.”

“Whoops, I-I guess I made it awkward.”

They both looked at each other, 

“No, no you didn’t make it awkward, I did-”

“No, no you didn’t make it awkward, I did-”

Both of them continued to argue with each other until they realised their attempt was fruitless, and shrugged it off with admittedly stale laughter. Tsumiki insisted she get the last apology in before she returned to Hintata’s cut. Rubbing a hand over the smaller plaster patch to secure it in place. He didn’t blame her, if he had something to distract him from the fog-think tension he’d indulge in it too. Somewhat instinctively he looked at the bed were Nagito had been, Tsumiki sighed when caught him

“D-don’t worry he’s fine. He probably just had to get back to his class. Oh, ah like you probably do... If you’re _her_ replacement then you must also be the new English teacher”

Hinata nodded solemnly, inspecting the patch with his hand. _Was the cut that deep that I needed one of the gauze ones?_

Tsumiki eeked again, pulling his hand away, “No I’m so stupid, I forgot to wash your hand off.”

The hand itself was still bloodied but said blood had already dried off the palm by now. Still, Tsumiki insisted he’d ruin the new plaster and went to grab another wet wipe from the sink side. Hinata raised an eyebrow,

“Wouldn’t it be easier to just wash it in the sink?”

“I-I’m afraid not; it’s broken,” she replied just as finished up, “There, you’re all done.”

“Thank you Mikan” Hinata gave her a warm smile before he slid himself off the table. As much as he wanted to stay to inquire more about Daimon, he knew that his new job had somehow pushed some kind of sore spot. He bent over to pick up his bags and leave, yet he noticed how Mikan hadn’t really moved.

“Shoot, were you not done?”

She shook her head and looked flustered, “N-no you can go it’s just that, no one’s really called me Mikan before.”

Hinata’s brow furrowed “Really, no one?”  
  


“No, I don’t really have many friends here-” she mumbled, fumbling with bandages.

“What about Nagito, it seemed like he knew you at least,”  
  


Mikan shook her head again, “No I-I don’t think so. He can be nice, but even then our time is limited together. I think he only comes here because I’m the only one who’ll listen”

_Listen, listen to what?_

When Hinata didn’t respond, she hurried out a follow-up, 

“T-then again it’s probably because I’m the bad friend, I mean I don’t even ask you for name- oh no don’t worry I can just look up your name on our system, I-I don’t want to take up more of your time.”

**“It’s Hajime, Hajime Hinata”**

The soft look in her eyes after that still lingered in Hinata’s mind as he stared down at the WOH files. 

Once he managed to calm her down, he’d talked to her a small while to ease her nerves. Agreeing to meet her at the staff room later.

At least he wasn’t in Tsu- Mikan’s bad books. Though he had doubts that even if he was she would have never let him know. The woman seemed so timid and somewhat self-loathing. Just like that Nagito guy too, and that kid Kemuri from what he’d witnessed. Was having low regard for yourself just a requirement for this school? 

Either way he made a note of it on his diagram, drawing lines to connect both Nagito and Mikan to the web he’d constructed. Now that he thought about it, both of them did mention they knew Daimon first hand. He drew another line. Not to mention how Mikan hinted that he got hurt a lot, then there were the wounds Nagito had. Hinata drew a few more lines. Then Mikan told him how she had known 2a’s homeroom teacher. A she. _What had the Towa kid said about their old teacher again ?_

At this point Hinata had picked up a good rhythm going emptying his brain of what important information he’d gathered. Working with a buzz and a hum. His brain had pushed aside the fact that he was going past where his professional concern should land.

Well, his brain was trying to push out a lot.

It was failing too. Just like Mikan’s cabinets, it was filled to the brim to the point where trying to find anything was one giant Jenga game. It may have been quiet around, but even the slightest usher seemed to be breaking his concentration. This had been just a way to pass boredom, but it had led to him drowning in his own self-made conspiracy.

There was a point where this school had stopped feeling like an ocean to Hinata, and more like it’s a separate water planet. One giant water planet with inhabitants Hinata could understand what they were saying, but not the meaning. And instead of a boat to get him through all this, Togami had chucked him in expecting him to know to swim. _Should I have expected this?_ _What was I expecting? When had it changed, when I met Togami, or when I had met my class?_

Hinata forcefully put down his pen. No, he couldn’t do this, he shouldn’t be doing this. 

_I’m only here for a year, I just need to get on with it._

When he looked up he noticed a few of his students looking up at him. Though when he realised he still had his fist clenched around his biro he didn’t blame them. 

“Sorry, I was dealing with a real brain teaser there.” He coughed out an apology and most of the class went back to their books.

“I feel you there sir,” the girl on the front row sighed. Her pen was chewed on and her frow burrowed.

Hinata perked up, “Is something wrong?” 

“Hm, well,” The student hesitated, “I get the translation just fine, it’s just the content of the text that’s bugging me” 

“Hm?” Hinata got up from behind his desk and walked over to hers. As he looked over her shoulder he noticed how detailed her notes were. She’d even gone as far to as correct stuff in the text she thought was wrong. One of them is the spelling of the word color to colour. He pointed it out,

“Y’know that’s not wrong. It’s an American extract, they just spell it differently.”

“Why though? That’s pretty stupid of the Americans.”

Hinata tried to not cringe, “I mean it’s not the end of the end, what was it that was bothering you again?”

The student adjusted her glasses and continued, 

“This piece of text here, from the novel, I just don’t get the story-line. This lady clearly states her hatred for the sealife here, but the author refers to her as the ocean later on. I don’t understand what they’re getting at. Is this some kind of mistake they never cropped out?”

He followed where her finger was on the textbook. “An extract from the author Izuru Kamukara” He smiled at the familiar family name.

“As abstract as he is, that was intentional. It’s just a wishy washy metaphor about how the protagonist’s inner self-hatred towards that part of themselves. It would probably make more sense in the whole book probably.”

The student raised her eyebrow, “You read this sentimental stuff?”

“Yeah my cousin wrote it, he’s pretty big in the writing business back in America. He started when he was your age I think.”

Her eyes lit up slightly, “Your family’s in the writing business? Hm, not bad Sensei. I wonder what it’s like in America for him. I’ve always wanted to go there.”  
  


“Didn’t you just call them stupid?”

She laughed, “Everywhere country has its idiots Sensei. A nationality doesn’t determine how smart you are. It just gets boring here sometimes. I’m a budding girl genius, after all, I don’t want to cap off my success to just one place.”

It was Hinata’s turn to raise an eyebrow as he listened to the girl stroke her own ego. He found it funny for someone who didn’t know what a metaphor was to have such confidence in their craft. Though there was no denying what was on the papers in front of her. On a technical level, she was soaring. Hinata had no doubt that if he asked her to identify any part of the text she would know the correct term. Even a metaphor, much to her distaste. All she seemed to be lacking was care for fiction writing, which 16-year-old Hinata would have agreed with. He hadn’t grown up with that love for story-telling or meaning like Izuru or his Grandmother. Cold, straight facts were just more _there_ for him. It wasn’t until University when that had changed for him, and he’d delved too far the other way. He tried way too hard to be like his successful cousin to where he now only hated “sentimental stuff” even more.

Another student took advantage of Hinata being up and about to ask some questions about the work. He left the other student at the front to their own devices as he went about the job that kept him away from the pit of contemplation he’d left on his desk.

\---

The school chime rang throughout the halls. Once they were given the nod of dismissal, students began piling out of the classrooms for lunch. Hinata gave that same nod and watched as his own students left the classroom. Some had grouped within the class, whilst others went to find their friends from other classes. He smiled as he watched them go, well most of them. Girl genius from the front row was still standing there, looking at the desk. 

“Hey Sensei? You know that book your cousin wrote or whatever. It isn’t any good, is it?”  
  


Hinata wasn’t sure if she was debating the fact or outright stating that it was probably bad, he just shrugged,  
“Depends on your personal definition of good.”

She pouted at the lack of answer but didn't bug him further about it before she left the classroom.

Now that he was finally alone, Hinata pulled out his phone. When he did, he was greeted with a wide-eyed Usami.

“Hinata! You’re back, I’m happy to see you. Though not happy to see you’re injured. Did everything go okay?”

“It’s complicated, but I’m doing alright now,” He paused when he heard his stomach growl, “I’d be even better if you could help me out.”

Usami’s eyes had that creepy anime shine to them when she heard the word help, “Of course! That’s what Usami’s here for. I’m assuming you’d be looking for some kind of staff room to eat in?”

“Do you still need me to grant your location access?” 

“Oh no I already did that!” she smiled, but Hinata frowned causing her to stutter, “W-well you were going to grant me access anyway, so I just thought - well why not take some initiative. This way you didn’t have to wait for me to download knowledge of your surrounding area. And besides, if I was active more often, I could, y’know help pretend bad things from happening. My interface is advanced enough for that!”

The cogs in Hinata’s head turned as his frown loosened. With his homeroom class, having an extra eye in the classroom wouldn’t be such a bad idea, “How advanced would we be talking?”  
  


Usami went on to explain how her programming worked, and as far as Hinata understood this was how it worked:

  1. Usami could only ever do something if her user, Hajime Hinata, does or has expressed their permission to perform said action. If the user at any time revokes their permission the action is to be halted or prevented in the future until permission is reissued.
  2. The recognized user is the only one allowed to command or ask for help from Usami.
  3. Usami could scan in a 40ft radius, 360 degrees, the environment surrounding the user’s device of choice. Though Usami physically can not see whatever is in her radius, she can both listen in on and detect motion.
  4. If Usami feels as if she’s in an environment where she is at risk of being hijacked, or implanted with some sort of virus, she will be allowed to manually shut down without the input of Hajime. 



She then tried to list off all the possible environments, to where Hinata had to stop her before he ran out of time for lunch.

“Okay I get it Usami. So just to clarify, you won’t interrupt me during class and I can specify when I don’t want to be interrupted?” 

She nodded, and though a little reluctantly granted Usuami access.

“You won’t regret it Hinata, Now let’s get you a well-deserved break,” she finished up and her avatar hopped off screen. A few seconds of the apps usually sound effects later and a pixelated version of Usami’s face popped up in the corner of the screen. Next to it was a speech bubble with various directional arrows. Most of them were faded except one which pointed toward the classroom’s door. Hinata grabbed his bags when Usuami’s voice could be heard again over the phone’s speaker,

“Just listen to my instructions and you’ll soon arrive at your destination.”

Hinata tried not to laugh at how she had how voice sounded, 

_Well at least she’s no longer a glorified siri, she’s now a glorified satnav._

  
  
  
  


  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	3. - Puppy Eyes and Hamsters -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for the very last scene. It's in Mikan's office so there's mentions of violence again.  
> Also I'm gonna update the tags because despite her being key to the story, I apparently forgot Mikan in them. Always proofread during the daytime, don't be like me kids.
> 
> Also I'm sorry it's slightly later, but I've been working on some art for the series (that and art fight is happening as well). When I get it done would you prefer I just put them in the relevant chapters, or mention I've uploaded it on my socials? Whichevers easiest. Ngl I don't know how Ao3 works.

Just like your run-of-the-mill sat-nav, Usami was annoying to most, but 80% of the time got the job done. It just so happened that this was one of her 20% moments.

"I thought you said turn left" Hinata asked.

"I did! But, aa heh, I may have miscalculated. My sensors are a new feature! So I might miss certain terrain if there's too much movement. Magical girls have their limits too Hinata- oh! Turn the next corner." 

Hinata still complied with her directions. Even if she wasn't always accurate Hinata always found himself listening to the rabbit. Perhaps a little too much, but even he didn't have the heart to look her dead in the pixelated eye when Usami felt like she had failed. Programmed to or not, the rabbit had puppy eyes for days. She could give Mikan a run for her money.  
Now it was known a lot of movement didn't help, Hinata slowed down when a group of students walked by. A group that seemed rather confused when they noticed a grown man had been talking to himself through the hallways. Though at first, he tried not to speak to her when others could hear, his stomach had quickly taken the wheel this time around. With a strong demand to eat the pot ramen, he's brought. _God, he hoped they had a microwave-_

"Almost there! Just turn right at the split corners and it’s chow time~" 

With a nod, Hinata approached the junction. His body went to go right, but then Usami's pixelated halt rang from the speaker. He paused mid-stride. 

When he turned his head he felt his nose boop up against the cold metal of something. Whoever was holding that metal stepped back for Hinata. Due to that, Hinata could officially add one more reason to his argument of why this was the most bizarre day of his life so far. A robot head. Well, what he assumed so, either that or someone’s fursuit.

Balanced on top of a stack of random metal parts, was a white bear head. It had fairly cutesy features. The chubby cheeks, the blush, reminded him of Usami slightly. Though the bandages stood out design-wise. Even next to the crisp white of the painted fur, it was like a sore thumb. Such an odd inclusion; it couldn’t bleed after all. Hinata briefly entertained the idea that maybe it was to hold a wonky part of the structure together, the head did look like it was cut in half from the crease down the middle.

Of course, this was only briefly because the dude holding said head had begun to yell at Hinata.

“Hinata! Why aren't you moving, they’re going to get mad! This hallway is too narrow for the both of you,” Usami chirped up.

Now un-paused, Hinata went to dart aside with a reply, “Shoot, sorry there I’ll just move-”

The dude paused in his complaints before interrupting Hinata.

“Huh, wait, is that an Usami?" 

The man’s accent seemed strangely familiar, a change from the standard accent he’d heard so far.

From amongst the scrap metal, a head poked out. Hinata had no idea how he hadn't seen the flamingo pink of his hair before. After seeing around thirty hairstyles in this school that weren't natural colours, he knew the dress code wasn't traditional here. This man, however, with his yellow outfit to boot, looked more like a highlighter than a dress code violation. 

"Um, yeah it is, I'm sorry, but how do you know-?"

The pink in the man's eyes shone brighter. 

"Sweet, just gimme a sec"

Shuffling along the hallway, he dropped the pile of metal next to a random locker with a small thud. Before the guy turned around Hinata noticed him pushing what he presumed was glasses up into his beanie. 

"Right sorry about that" he gave a sharp grin, " Now c'mon dude whip out, lemme see,"

"I'm begging you to rephrase that-" 

"You know what I mean!” The dude shook his head with embarrassment, “Usami. I recognise that voice from her old model." 

Hinata raised an eyebrow but fished his phone out of his pocket. His spare hand held up the phone screen for the guy as he rather enthusiastically started talking to Usami. Who, to no surprise, matched his enthusiasm. How exactly the highlighter man knew enough about Usami to be catching up with her like an old friend he didn't know. Usami wasn't for public download. Hell, even Hinata had no clue who the developer was. All he knew was what Nanami had told him: 

Nanami: **You can't not give it a shot Hinata! (づ￣ ³￣)づ**

You: **can, if i have to download it privately. through some random email no less**

You: **just a lil shady**

You: **also you could just come into the living room please. I know you're there.**

 **i can hear the pings**. 

Nanami: **I don't feel like moving, (pwp)/ and it's not shady. Well, I don't think so at least.**

You: **then why can't i find more than hear say about the app**

You: p **rivate or not you'd at least think it would have like wiki or something. people love talking about shit they can't have**

You: **or at least a developer name?**

Nanami: **You're thinking too much about this. I have it downloaded too, do you think I'd risk that?**

You: **hmm maybe not**

You: **but still**

Nanami: **I’ll just leave it in your memory for now. Trust me, it could help. The developer doesn’t share his work that often. For him to not know you, yet still share it is a pretty big deal I think. ^-^**

You: **oh um, i’m flattered, though he does seem like an odd dude.**

Nanami: **I guess you could say that, but he still is a very cheerful guy. Who knows maybe you can meet him some day. ~**

His gaze landed back on the guy in front of him. More specifically his toothy grin. How the light that bounced off their sharp edges, seemed just as bright as that spark in his eye. This wasn’t the guy Nanami had mentioned, was it? 

As Hinata stared, they made eye contact and the guy scratched his chin. 

“Huh- Oh yeah right! My bad, I haven’t introduced myself to you.”  
  


He threw his hands behind his back, adopting a more relaxed stance, “Name’s Kazuichi Soda.”

Hinata smiled, “It’s nice to meet you Soda.”

“You too dude. Lemme guess you’re Haijme Hinata then, right?” 

Soda smirked back at him. For someone who he’d never met, it was oddly more of a statement than a question. Soda seemed to catch the look on Hinata’s and clarified,

“I’ve just heard a lot about you recently, that’s all”

A wave of relief washed over him. 

_Nanami must’ve told him more about me than I thought._ _That or Usami_ ** _is_** _stealing my information._

“As nice as it has been seeing you Soda, it is still my job to see that Hinata gets to his destination” Usami jumped back into the conversation.

“Huh-?” Soda looked at the hallway where the staff room was and the switch in his brain flicked. 

“Shoot yeah you were probably just wanting to chow. My bad. I gave Sonia my lunch, so I guess it slipped my mind.” 

Hinata raised an eyebrow, “You’re really not going to eat?”

“Nah don’t worry about, gotta feed a lady first y’know” Soda replied, as he tapped the top of the metal bear’s head, “Besides, this little guy isn’t going to build himself. Helps me move along with project Shirokuma. I’ve only got my free period after lunch to work on him and all”

Soda bent back down to pick up the pile and Hinata shoved Usami back in his pocket. 

“Do you want some help?”

“Nah” Soda brushed him off, “I mean cheers for the offer, but if you did you’d have to come in my workshop and all and-“

“You prefer not to share that part of your life with others?”

As Soda was walking away he paused. The usual cocky grin he had on had melted in a warmer one, 

“Huh, yeah. You get it dude, see you around.”

Both Usami and Hinata said their goodbyes before Usami piped up again,

“Say Hinata? How’d you know what Soda was gonna say”

Hinata just shrugged as he walked towards the staff room, “Based it off what Nanami had told me.”

Usami went strangely silent, “That girl you text.? Hinata, I don’t think you've got this right-”

“Got what right?

The silence on Usami’s continued before she stuttered an answer, “I-I mean your diet, obviously! Ha ha, what kind of an assistant would I be if I condoned you eating Ramen for the third day in a row!”

Hinata laughed, his smile from the Soda interaction was still lingering.

“Well if you had to worry about eating Usami, you’d understand a balanced diet doesn’t always mean a good bank balance afterward. But I’ll keep it in mind~”

With their conversation over, Hinata slid open the door to the staff room.

When he entered he was immediately greeted with the sounds of laughter and idle chatter as he watched several other teachers relax in a surprisingly luxurious room. Though, when he noticed a content Togami sitting in a comfy chair sipping coffee, he realised who's executive decision that was.

The layout of the room was elevated so there were three levels of sort. Each only being separated two miniature steps each. Where Togami sat was the top of these. He was the first thing you saw as the seating there aligned almost perfectly with the door's position.

It really gave Hinata the feeling he was being watched.

Togami's chair was cornered by two humble couches on either side. Already occupied of course, with a coffee chair in the middle. Behind them was an assortment of what looked like pigeon holes and bookcases. There were a few two-seater wooden tables as well, crammed behind the decorated pillars. Yet it was hard to see if they were occupied or not. 

The pillars themselves were a contrast to the room. Whilst it mostly had a sleek, modern style to it, the pillars screamed street art. Each had been drawn on with popping colours within its text and images. All of which to varying degrees of skill, the chalky texture made this especially striking for some. Something which soon made Hinata realise, holy shit they had special chalk pillars.

This really was a rich school. 

From there on, there was the middle section.

This seemed like it was used purely for function over comfort. It looked longer in length than it did width. On the right was a small kitchen area. There was some cuboarding along with a kettle and thankfully a microwave. The middle was just a rug, but to the left was some work cubicles. This being the one thing that Hinata had expected from the room at the most. He noticed a bucket of coloured chalk on one of them

Finally, there was the ground level. 

To the left were some more seating and work spaces all snug in the corner. It was nested in by a similar, but longer chalk wall that segmented it off from Togami's gaze. This side was more unoccupied than the rest. With only a blonde lady and a scarfed man sitting next to each other. Both eating lunch. Hinata would have checked the other side until he locked eyes with the very person he'd agreed to meet here.

"Mikan!"

The timid nurse had turned away from the two on the left. That wavering smile secured for a moment when she noticed Hinata. She approached him. Her arms opened a tinge as if she was going to hug him before she promptly returned to the default stance of clinging onto herself. 

"O-o Haijme! Aa or wait, or would you prefer Hinata-?" 

Hinata had tried to dodge the question, but before he could Mikan had interjected again,

"Aa right, no it doesn't matter! I'm so sorry I didn't mean to jump to conclusions. I guess I'm just a bit, well, anxious. I thought you might have ditched me. Not that I blame you-"

A hand landed on Mikan's shoulder. Despite how she shielded her eyes away, Hinata could still feel eyes on him. She jumped initially at the contact. However, when she realised Hinata wasn't gripping on viciously or striking, she eased into it. Hinata used a soft tone, 

"No it's fine. I should be the one who apologises. I was a bit late since I ran into someone just before I got here."

"That someone wouldn't happen to be a pink-haired man would it?" 

Hinata turned to the voice. The blonde lady who was sitting down had looked over to address him. 

"Soda?" He questioned. 

"Yes, that's the one! And do sit down, please. We’ve been insisting that Tsumiki join us for a while now." 

Hinata looked back at Mikan who just nodded at him to go ahead. Hinata perched on the edge of the seating booth whilst the other man and the blonde both shuffled along for him. He thanked them as he finally had the relief of putting the two heavy bags down. Whilst he got comfortable, Mikan still stood up. She hovered near the table as her legs buckled inward slightly. By now, Hinata had gotten used to her hesitation and patted the seat next to him with a smile. Eventually, she edged herself onto the seat. With her knees resting next to Hinata’s. Once they were settled, the lady spoke up.

“It’s nice to finally meet you Hinata. We’re heard quite a bit about you.” 

He raised an eyebrow, but chuckled, “It seems like everyone has recently.”

“For such a young, ordinary, man, you’ve sure made an impression here already. Tsumiki told us all about you while she was waiting.”

Mikan didn’t comment, staying silently flustered. As she tried to prevent the others from looking at her, her eyes landed on the food in front of them. 

“H-inata have you eaten yet?” she mumbled.

It only took Hinata shaking his head, for her to get back up again,

“T-then I’ll get you something, I’ll be right back.”

Before Hinata had a chance to object she’d already made her way to the second elevation. The scarfed man tutted.

“The tender of wounds has always been a skittish one. Like a timid house cat amongst lions sometimes.”

Hinata didn’t even wanna know why he was talking in that manner, though he guessed his macabre appearance was in an explanation in itself. The blonde nodded in agreement, her lips pursed into a frown,

“That is true. I tried to make conversation with her at the photocopier today, but she just started apologising for hogging the photocopier and told me to go first. Strange, I don’t remember her being this timid.”

Hinata was sure Mikan must feel her ears burning, so he changed the subject, “So, um you’re both friends with Soda then?” 

“Yes, I do suppose we all spend a lot of time together,” the lady responded. She rolled her palm open, gesturing towards the man next to her.

“Where are my manners? This is my friend, Supreme Overlord of Ice, Gundam Tanaka. And I am the proud Princess Nevermind.”

She took another bite of her food once she had finished. Food that she was keeping in a cheesy California branded lunchbox.

“Princess of, um California..?” Hinata's face contorted into one of pure confusion. He’d lived in California for years and as far as he was concerned no such title existed. Nevermind looked equally as confused until she noticed that Hinata was staring at the lunchbox. 

“Oo” she laughed, “No I am the Princess of Novoselic, not California. This isn’t my lunchbox.”

“Oh shit” he muttered, he remembered what Soda had said, “You must Sonia”

Nevermind’s eyes lit up, “Oh my Hinata, I did not expect you to know of my culture’s monarchy! I must say I’m very impressed”

Hinata just smiled and nodded, pretending he had a clue where Novoselic was. Let alone if it was even a real place or if she was just pulling his leg. Ignoring it seemed to be the worst of opinions however, as this soon led to a discussion regarding the country’s practices. It was mostly a one-sided discussion, that consisted of Sonia explaining various parts of her culture in between bites of her, well Soda’s, food. Hinata had turned to Tanaka for help at various points in the conversation, but the man seemed to be focusing on his scarf more than the two of them.

A ping could be heard from the distance, along with an eek. Hinata looked over the kitchen area to see Mikan almost dropping something as she tried to fish it out of the microwave. When she tried again, she pulled out two soba pots. Though she walked in haste as to not drop them, she soon returned. Passing one of them over to Hinata, who graciously thanked her. She took her original position in the booth. This time leaning more on Hinata whilst she ate. The food seemed to keep her content. They all continued talking amongst themselves for a while. For the most part, it was about whatever the four of them could think about. General queries about each other, some random facts about each, the like. To which both Hinata and Mikan discovered that the reason why Tanaka was so preoccupied with his scarf was because there were hamsters in there. Part of Hinata wished he was joking, yet with this school, being baffled was always an option. Whilst Tanaka tried to label them as his ‘four dark devas of destruction’ all Hinata could see was four fluff balls on mini legs. One of which, Jum-P as Tanaka called him, had taken an interest in Hinata. That interest was purely on sleeping however, as he had climbed up Hinata to nap in his hair.

“Hmph, it is rare my dark devas humble mere humans like that. You should be honored Hajime Hinata.” Tanaka spoke with a subtle smile as he watched the hamsters explore the table. The bigger of the hamsters ended up near Mikan. Initially, she edged away from them and closer to Hinata. The hamster had been sniffing at her apron pocket and she didn’t take well to it. Neither did Hinata when tightly grabbed his shoulder.

“Do not be afraid of them, tender of wounds. The dark devas have no interest in harming you. In this form, they are rather passive souls.”

Mikan didn’t seem to believe Tanaka until she saw Nevermind scooping up one of them in her hands. Hesitantly, she mimicked her. Except she held him at a further distance than the rest. Once the fluffball snuggled into Mikan’s palm, Hinata could see her heart melt from the inside out. A site that seemed to have the same effect on everyone else too. Her hand would shake slightly when the animal moved too much, but after some more reassurance from Tanaka she was fine.

“How did you get these guys in the school Tanaka?” Hinata asked, “You must have done a lot of convincing for them to be allowed in here”

“I did nothing of the sorts”

Hinata looked back at him for clarification on what he meant, and Tanaka looked at Mikan,

“They’re convincing enough on their own. Even my students have taken quite the liking to them.”

“Yeah that reminds me, what subjects do you both teach?” Hinata asked.

“Ah I was wondering when you were going to inquire about such,” Tanaka replied, “Though I would have preferred to teach the dark arts, no such a course exists here. However, in the meantime I’m partaking in the role of biologist. I share my department with Soda, who’s a physicist.”

Nevermind chipped in, “Just like you and I do Hinata! I’m also a modern foreign language teacher. Though I teach more than just English.”

“I’m glad to meet someone else from my department” 

Hinata finished up his Soba once he was done talking. He took Mikan’s empty cup and stacked them together so he could bin them when he left.

“Me too!” Nevermind continued, “ I must say you’re making excellent company so far. You’re a lot better than _she_ ever was to me”

As Nevermind said that he felt burning eyes on him. Thinking it was Mikan, he cautiously took a glance at her. Yet she seemed undisturbed for she was still playing with one of the hamsters. He continued the conversation with Nevermind, but kept looking around. There was no way he could just shrug off that feeling of being watched. After a few minutes, he was leaning towards the conclusion that maybe it was the rough day wearing him down. Then he spotted the grey-eyed culprit.

Across the room, on the right side was Nagito. He wasn’t even sitting down, just leaning against the wall near another group of people who were talking. Whilst he had been staring at both Mikan and Hinata, it seemed like it was Hinata’s attention he was after. For when he got it, the man shot Hinata an indecipherable look. Only then to turn to the other group, as if he had always been talking to them. 

_Had he been staring at me that whole time?_

“Hinata is something troubling you?” Tanaka looked at him, brow furrowed.

“Um, no n, I was just thinking.”

Tanaka nodded, “Hmph, so you’re a man of slow mindedness then Hinata?” 

“Wait, what no-”  
  


“It is nothing to be ashamed of Hinata!” Sonia added, “Soda is a slow thinker too”

 _Ouch. She really is not that keen on the guy. Eating his lunch or not._ Hinata thought. _Plus I wouldn’t call Soda slow-minded. He had programmed Usamii, hadn’t he?_

“It does seem as if you’d get along quite well with my companion.” Tanaka smirked as they talked about Soda, “Say are you free after work?”

“Yeah..? How come?” 

“Every other Friday we hang out at each other's residences. We consider it a relaxing way to end off a week of slaving away to the capitalist masses. This week it’ll be at Soda’s house. Normally we wouldn't invite you like that. However, as the newest member of the staff, it seems only fitting that I extend you an invite if you wish to accept.”

“Who exactly is _we_?” Hinata queried. It did seem like an interesting idea to get to know his colleagues. With so many strong personalities, he needed to mentally prepare himself for how much he was going to have to keep up with.

“I can’t go often because it usually falls on my after-school tutoring sessions,” Nevermind stated, “I do believe the two invite others as well, but like me, whether they’ll actually show up is, I believe this is the right word, “iffy”  
  


“So it’s just you and Soda then?” 

Tanaka nodded, hiding back in his scarf.

“I’ll be there. What’s the address?”

Tanaka explained the details to him. To which they both agreed it would be best if they just met back here before going. That way Hinata could just be given a lift instead of having to take the bus. By now Sonia had finished eating, she asked if either of them could give the box back to Soda. Hinata volunteered, nosing about why she had his lunch in the first place. To which Mikan answered for her.

“Aa no that was all my fault. While I was waiting for you, I accidentally bumped into Nevermind and knocked the food out of her hand. I tried to give her some of mine that I keep for emergencies, but I was beaten to it”

Sonia put her hands on Mikan’s to comfort her, “It’s okay Tsumiki, you didn’t mean it! It’s a good thing Soda said he had extra lunch with him.”

Hinata frowned.

_I thought he said he hadn’t eaten because he’d given it to Nevermind._

They had just finished their conversation when the school’s chime rang again. A brunette next to Togami stood up as it did, ushering for everyone that didn’t have a free period for planning, should go teach their next class. Everyone complied and the teachers started to spill out of the staff room one by one. Including Nevermind and Tanaka who, once he had gathered his four dark divas, waved goodbye to Mikan and Hinata.

“O-o do you have a free period Hinata?” Mikan noticed how he hadn’t really moved after he’d disposed of the empty soba containers.

“No, not really, I have no idea what to do too. I already planned for the last lesson. I also don’t have any marking so-”  
  


He thought back to the WoH folders in the briefcase he had. It sent a shiver down his spine at the mere thought of having to return to the conspiracy web he built. But he knew if he had to be stuck in the staff room alone, that’s what he’d end up doing. He thought about what else he could do. There was Ramen in his bag if he was that bored. Then he spotted the lunchbox Nevermind had left on the table. His mind had gone back to Soda. 

“Well, if you would like to that is, my office is always open. I’ll still be on duty, b-but there’s no harm in you being there. Only if you want to though.” Mikan suggested. 

“If you don’t mind, I wouldn’t mind giving you a helping hand. I just remembered I have an errand to run first, so I’ll meet you there. Oh and you don’t happen to know where the physics labs are, would you?” 

Mikan gave him the directions he was after, before Togami walked by reminding her she needed to return to her post immediately. Once she was gone, Hinata made his way to Kitchen area. He brushed the shoulder of a shorter colleague wearing a green skirt. He swiftly apologised before he focused on preparing the ramen for Soda. For the first few minutes, there were still people around, but they soon drifted away. Leaving the only noise to be the humming of the microwave. Hinata was alone. So why did he still feel like he was being watched?

To distract from the feeling, Hinata ended up washing Soda’s lunchbox while he waited. Sonia seemed to have left the plastic box rather clean, so there wasn’t much to clean in all honesty. Which ultimately led to Hinata absently staring at what was the slowest microwave he’d ever used. At least he knew it was clean, after all, could stare at himself and Nagito in the reflection.

Wait-

When the microwave pinged, Hinata jumped out of his skin and bolted around.

“What the fuck, Nagito? Don’t scare me like that.” 

Nagito seemed completely unphased by Hinata’s reaction, he just kept that neutral smile.

“How- how long have you been standing there?” Hinata pressed further. This man seriously had issues.

“Long enough to watch you wash an already clean lunchbox,” he responded, “It makes me wonder why they hired you if you don’t have anything better to do than that”

Hinata ignored him, “It’s not me I’m doing it for, it’s for Soda.”

Nagito sighed looking at his hand. Something about the way he posed around Hinata confused him. He didn’t seem like he was trying to mock Hinata, but he knew something was up. For now he was just going to ignore the man, he opened up the microwave and poured the ramen into the lunchbox. The container was thrown in the bin once he was done and he began to walk away. If Nagito could ignore him when he felt like it, so could Hinata.

“You’re being selfish Hinata, you know that?” Nagito didn’t look at him as he rambled on “Trying to make friends when you know full well you’ll never see them again in, what was it? A year’s time?”  
  


_What’s with this guy?_

“A year and half,” Hinata mumbled, he thought Nagito wouldn't be able to hear him, but he clearly did.  
  


“Hmm, so you are aware. Good to know”

Nagito didn’t say anything else as he turned his back to Hinata. Hinata just kept walking, but before he could leave-

“Oh and the by the way Hinata, I want to clear here” Nagito added, “It’s Komaeda to you, have some respect.”

\---

Hinata clutched onto the lunchbox a lot harder than he needed to as he walked along the halls. The dead silence of the halls seemed to haunt him as he followed Mikan’s directions to the Physics labs. Usami had him covered. The usual beep signaled from his phone as her voice turned on. She tried to comfort him, but could only emote the odd response out of him. Her pixelated tone was slower than usual as tension radiated off Hinata. This didn’t stop her still, as she kept it up until Hinata stopped at one of the doors. It had a sign with “Do not disturb” and a time period on it. It was sloppily scribbled out in biro and appeared to have oil smeared on it. The actual sign for the room read “Mechanics lab” with a more official-looking timetable plastered underneath it. He could hear sounds of tinkering from the instead, along with a strong smell. The kind that would make your whole mouth taste like iron if you opened it.

Hinata knocked on the door, “Hey Soda, it’s me Hinata. I got you something, I’ll leave it out here for you.” 

The lunchbox was carefully placed near the door so Soda wouldn’t step on it before Hinata walked off as he heard a clattering of tools from inside the lab. 

He hadn’t gone far when he heard Soda yell after him, 

“Yo dude cheers, this is awesome, How’d you know I was starting to crave? This is like my favorite flavor too!” 

He cast a chance back to see pink hair sticking out of the door, along with that usual shark grin. He soon heard another voice echo in the hall.  
  


“Soda! Would you please lower the audacity of gratitude? My class is trying to study and I’m sure they would prefer silence”

“Whoops, my bad. Sorry Gundam~”

\--

Mikan stared down at the bruises which covered Daimon’s leg. Her mouth etched into a worried frown. 

“O-oh no, Daimon, there are more here than the last check-up. What did I say last time-?”

The boy groaned, “Ugh I know but I swear these are just from baseball practice. I can’t help if it gets a little rough out there. That’s what we sports leaders have to do!”

“T-that’s what you told me last time”

She huffed as she rolled up the trouser leg to see his right leg was even worse. Whilst the bruises on the left was beginning to turn green and yellow with age, the one on the right was bright shades of red and purple. They covered larger areas of the skin and when Mikan laid a finger on it, Daimon was stifling back tears.

Mikan sighed, her eyes droopy as she struggled to look at the boy’s injuries. Let alone the damaged look on his face. 

“Daimon-” 

“NO! I don’t-” he sniffed as he couldn’t hold back the tears anymore, “I-I don’t want to talk about it, I’m not gonna talk about it!!!”

He tried to kick, hoping to push her away, but Mikan held on. She cautiously pulled the boy into a hug. He squirmed at first, screaming about how unfair it was, that he was strong, he didn’t need her pity. His sobs kept suffocating him as he did and soon yells weakened to whispered whimpers and he clung onto the back of the nurse’s apron. They stay there for a while. Mikan allowed him to cry into her shoulder, until he was ready to say something. After a while, his cracking voice spoke up, 

“P-please Mikan, don’t make me go to the hospital again. T-they’re make him go with me and that-that-” 

The tears started up again, and Mikan ran a hand through his hair to comfort him. Feeling the tears against his uniform stung more than anything. She pulled back reluctantly and went to get him some tissues. The box placed both next to him as she returned to get more supplies. There much you could do to treat bruises in theory. However, she refused to just do nothing about it. After rummaging around in her cabinets, thankfully without knocking overstuff this time, she pulled out the basics. Using her spare hand, she extended the end of the examination table. Daimon followed the usual routine and placed his feet on a pillow at the end to elevate his feet. A couple of ice packs were placed on the worst of the bruising. Mikan gave him some elastic bandages where necessary. 

Then she looked to see if anyone was coming before she pulled a key out of her apron. Slowly she got on all fours near the broken sink. Her hands shook as she searched for the key hole. Once she heard a clink of the two connecting, she twisted the key and with a quick clink, the mechanism was set in place.The sink opened up to reveal a medicine cabinet. They weren’t like the pills she was happy to display in her cabinet. They were stronger. All of them stated so bluntly on their vibrant warning signs. A sliver of a smile twitched on her face. Her finger ran along the bottles until she landed on a white painkiller bottle. Stepping back, she tapped the bottle so a vibrant pink pill fell onto her quivering hand.

She didn’t need to say anything as she handed over the pill. Daimon gulped in down, having to hold his head up as he did.

Mikan hated using such measures, but she hated those who forced her hand more. They waited together for a few minutes. Then, when Mikan knew he was fine, returned to the hidden cabinet. One pill wasn’t enough to hurt him. She would never, ever, ever hurt a patient. However, she always kept them out of view. Just in case

In fact, the only two staff members remaining that knew about the cabinet were Soda and Komaeda. Soda because he had built it for her. Komaeda, because he was too crafty.

Just as she twisted the key to lock it, she heard a knock at the door.

Daimon’s puffy eyes darted over at her. Her hands shook, but she walked toward the door. Daimon rolled up his trouser legs to hide the bruising and Mikan put on her puppy eyes. Just as Hinata came into the room.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	4. - Let the games begin -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Life happened and so the fanfic couldn't happen, unfortunately, but I'm back!  
> Similar to Mikan in the last time, there's a slight POV switch here, except at the start this time. 
> 
> You'll definitely be seeing more POV switches now that Nagito's becoming a part of the narrative.

Soda fastened the lock on the school’s shed. With a quick rattle of the door, he stashed the key away in his jumpsuit pocket. Though he preferred to have taken Shirokuma back to his place, he knew it was his turn to host their get together. Sure, it was just going to be him and Tanaka, like always, but still. He’d rather not have Tanaka judge him when he put the empty robot husk in a seatbelt. 

It’s not like the shed wouldn’t be secure anyway. The only reason he didn’t use it to tinker in was because of some kind of safety hazard or whatever. Naegi had to personally scold him on that one.

Once he was done locking up, he headed once more to the staff room. It was mostly quiet on the way there. Most of the students had already left by now, having finished cleaning. Some were still lingering around. He noticed one of the pupils was one he recognised, that red-haired dude. Soda didn't know him personally, but he'd seen him all the time in the school's newspaper. Not that he actually read the thing, it just made for an easy way to cover the floor when tinkering. Or Togami would make him cover the bill to destain it.

Either way, the dude must've been on some of the sports teams or something. It wasn't uncommon to see the guy on the front cover with the other sporty students. Soda wouldn't have thought so otherwise. Not by the way he was walking now at least. He was moving so sluggishly. 

Soda shrugged it off with a stretch. It had been a long week for everyone. After walking a bit more they seemed out of ear-shot. He pulled out his cracked phone. When he did an app notification pinged. He swiped up and a bear model hopped onto the screen.

“Hey Shirokuma! How’s it going?”

The bear smiled up at him. His voice was similar to Usami’s in the sense that he still had a cartoony voice. However, his tone was more of a smooth and soft one than a tangy-sweet one. 

“Oh, greetings Soda. I’m doing fine, my senses were down so I don't know how yours was I'm afraid"

"Huh? Really, how come?" Soda frowned. The last time he wanted was the ai to full-on break down.

"I'm not entirely sure." Shirokuma titled his head, "My last memory is from when you went to get some extra parts. I could hear you enter the basement. The next thing I knew, however, my outer systems were down. My audio, my cameras, they were all down. It's a miracle that I can hear you now." 

"Do you need me to message _him?_ I'm sure he can figure out what went wrong. I'll probably get it wrong if I try messing." 

Shirokuma shook his head. He opened a window stating how 'bug reports have already been sent out' and a bunch of system errors Kazuichi didn't really get. 

"Speaking of messages, however, you’ve had a lot of messages whilst you had your notifications on your mute. Would you like me to read them to you?”

Soda chewed on his lip as he pondered it, “Eh, yeah probably not out loud. Think you can scan em for me? Anything from Tanaka or..?”

“That’s “Edgelord Hamster Man” correct?”  
  


He smirked, “Yep~ You know the drill”

Shirokuma sighed, his model paused for a second before suddenly striking a pose. Both of his arms were crossed as he made a clawing motion in the air with one paw. He took a deep breath before reading, 

"Kazuichi, my crafter of mechanisms. We're awaiting your presence in the staff room. I hope to see you there soon, please don't forget your keys this time. 

  * Gundam."



"I still can't believe he signs texts, pfft what a dork," Soda laughed to himself. Shirokuma just stared back at him with a deadpan expression. Nodding to the pose he was in. The one Soda had specifically requested. The one he still laughed at 

"Hey don't look at me like that! Jeez I get it”

It was Shirokuma’s turn to giggle, “At least you’re self-aware. I take it from the text that your party is still underway”

“I wouldn’t call an evening with Gundam a party”

“Oh, well a party is when you have fun with others, isn’t it?” Soda hesitantly nodded, “Then it’s going to be a party”

“I don’t think we’re on the same track here Shiro, Parties have more people usually”  
Shirokuma titled his head, letting out some form of a confused huff, “That’s not true, you’ve made me send out multiple texts to others before, in fact,”

Soda’s filled with dread and he pulled his beanie whilst Shiro scavenged through the old texts.

**You:** And Miss Sonia~

**Nevermind:** Hmm, yes Soda?

**You:** I was wonderin if you maybe wanted to, idk come over to the party Gundam are holding, would you?

 **You:** The one we talked about earlier.

**Nevermind:** Why yes I’d love to take part. 

**Nevermind:** But

 **Nevermind:** I’m afraid I already have prior commitments. I'm more than happy to join you next time.

**You:** I'm looking forward to the next time then

 **You:** See ya soon ~

  
  


**You:** Hey Mioda! Me, Gundam and a few others are just gonna chill out after work. Just a small party maybe, y’know. You’re welcome to join us.

**Mioda:** OO A PARTY?? Mioda will be. In, The, H ou s e. :D

 **Mioda** : Just give me the deets.

**You:** Really? Sweet, cool, gimme five and I’ll hit you with more info.

**Mioda:** Oo-

 **Mioda:** Actually :c

**You:** Schedule complications ..?

**Mioda:** WOAH, you physic?

 **Mioda:** But, ah yeah sorry dude, I promise we can jam out next time. :o

**You:** Nah it’s cool, I get it.

Shirokumas voice trailed off when he got the last of his chosen texts, 

**You:** Togami, I know we’re not buds or anything-

 **You:** We’re doing a get together if you wanted to come.

**Togami** : I can personally promise you that I won’t be there.

The AI went to apologise, but Soda interrupted, 

"Ah well, I'm sure they'll come next time. I mean, they said so, right-?" 

Text appeared on the phone,

"No, no Soda, it's fine. I should have read your texts out loud. I know I am authorized to do so as AI, but I swear by a beard honor, I won't do it again without confronting you. A Shirokuma promise."

Soda's smile loosened to reassure the bear. He chuckled as he swiped away the notification.

"At least I know you'll keep that promise. Don't sweat it. Though, I better get going. Thanks, Shiro. Oh and hey why don't you join us? The more the merrier. "

The white bear gave him a look of approval, “Of course, I will. I'm sure I can have some fun and up the party factor. I’ll also let you know if the bug reports come back.”

With that, Shirokuma faded off-screen and the device switched to black. Soda shoved the phone back in his pocket and continued on his stroll through the school’s hallways. 

The texts had spoken for themself. For in the end was only Sonia and Togami who had kept to their word. It didn't seem like that long ago to him when he was that new guy, like Hinata, was now. Both Tanaka and Nevermind had known Soda since highschool. Since his family had moved back to Japan. He was a stranger to everyone else.

Unlike his gifted friends, it had taken a lot of recommendation and mechanical favors for Soda to land a gig here. Which meant, obviously, he had to prove himself to the rest of the staff right? 

It just seemed like the rest of the staff weren't as interested in letting him. 

Hence why it was a regular thing, no matter how much time had gone by since then. Nevermind, bless her, still showed up when she could. However, Tanaka attended to an almost religious degree. Why? Who knows; Soda never figured it. He couldn't resist a smile at the memory of one of the nights. When he'd been left scratching his head at the cage on his doorstep. 

Inside was a chinchilla and supplies. Which Soda knew the little guy was going to be a handful from the way he was already attacking the supplies. His sofa was chewed and smelled like rodent for weeks after. At first, he had sworn it was some kind of prank. Yet he still struggled to give the fostered pet back to Tanaka their next night in. He’d found out then how Tanaka couldn’t attend because he had to run an errand for the family animal breeding business. That the chinchilla was merely meant to be his replacement for the evening. Soda didn’t get it. 

He tried not to think anymore about Edgelord the chinchilla any longer. In fear of his brain telling him to adopt one. 

After a while, Soda found himself sliding open the door to the staff room. It was usually quiet on a Friday evening as most teachers either wanted to go home after a long week or did extra tutoring if they were strapped for cash. It was a better alternative to cram school if you could afford it. And as a student at Hope's Peak, you were probably rich enough if you could afford their attendance fee. So Soda’s slouch pricked up when he noticed Hinata listening to Tanaka in their usual spot. Tanaka seemed to notice Soda first and stood up. He threw his scarf over his shoulder as he approached, 

“Aa Kazuichi, how nice of you to join us." 

Hinata awkwardly followed, waving to Soda. Soda gave him a tired smile back. 

"Hey, Hinata, dude. Nice to see you again, what brings you here? I see we haven't sent you running home huh" 

Hinata chuckled and Tanaka responded for him

"As a newcomer, I thought it was only fair if he knew of our evening escapades and saw it fit to invite him. For the expressed interest in getting to know us." 

The brunette nodded, "Yeah, it would nice to have friends like you around" 

Sodas head begun its race.

_Heh really? Wait, what if he's just using us till he can find better friends- Nah isn't highschool. Okay, it is, but we're not teenagers anyway. He's not going to mock you or anything. Wait what if he does- But he brought you lunch-_

"Um, if that's an issue it's fine, I can always go home"

Hinata was looking at Soda with a somewhat cumbersome smile. The kind that made 

"Pfft what, like hell you are! I was just thinking about if you'd like the snacks I've got is all" Soda lied through his grinning teeth. He could feel the sweat rolling down his cheek as he did. Turning, he pulled out a set of keys and tossed them to Tanaka. Who's hamsters caught them for him. 

"Take him to the truck. I'll join ya in a minute" 

Tanaka raised an eyebrow at him, yet he soon ushered Hinata out. Leaving Soda to sigh and collect his stuff alongside his thoughts.

\---

Hope's Peaks car park was rather minuscule compared to the rest of the complex. The cool breeze against Hinata's skin cooled off the sweat he'd built up from the warmth of the main block. There were a few vehicles still there, most notably a beaten-up truck. Or more apparently, well-loved tuck. The closer, Hinata got, the more maintained the truck looked. Whilst the paint was chipped and the body liked worn, other features of the car almost looked like they didn’t belong on the truck. There wasn’t a scratch on any of the mirrors and the tires looked recently replaced. Tanaka opened the back door for him, giving him a closer look at the inside.

The seats themselves were padded really well. There was already some equipment stashed on one of the back, but it was all piled up fairly neatly. From the back, Hinata could see how the rest of the inside looked rather well cleaned. Not out of a posh retailer clean, but still brand new clean. Right down to the generic brand of car air freshener that hung from the front mirror. 

Hinata got out, realising he'd have to dump his stuff in the cargo bed. He dropped his bags in the boot and joined Tanaka in the vehicle. Scooting into the back seat right behind him. He could see the man and his hamsters in the mirror's reflection. 

They sat there in silence for a moment or two. Hinata staring out the back window into the parking lot. Tanaka spoke up,

“Don’t worry Hinata, you did nothing wrong.”

“How’d you know I was worried about that?”

Hinata’s eyes wandered back to the car’s mirrors, he could see Tanaka looking back at him. He hmmed.

“Yes, you both have that look in your eye, you and Kazuichi. When you cast a shadow of doubt or worry upon yourselves, your eyes have that subtle temple. Like a young fawn in headlights, one might say” Tanaka continued with a smile, “Yet your worry is worthless. If Kazuichi didn’t want you here, he wouldn’t have offered you the service of his car without even asking if you required such transport.”

Hinata agreed, “I suppose you’re right. You seem to know him pretty well.”

Tanaka just laughed

“Don’t be so easily fooled Hinata. There is always much to learn about the people you spend your time with. There are still many things I don’t know about Kazuichi, just as there are many he doesn’t know about me”

“So is that why you always come to these things?”  
  


“Hm, not entirely,” Hinata noted the warm smile on Tanaka’s face, “I have my other reasons.”

What reasons Hinata didn’t want to poke out, but from the way, Tanaka talked about “Kazuichi” he had a few ideas. This brought his mind back to the gathering though. He remembered Nevermind mentioning how she would sometimes tag along to them. Which got him thinking-

“So has anyone else ever tagged along? I mean. besides Nevermind that is”

Tanaka confirmed that there wasn’t, explaining both he and Soda’s failed attempts to do so. The man cast a knowing glance back to Hinata,

“Why was there someone you were hoping would show?”

Some part of Hinata’s stomach sunk. There was. He hadn’t even thought about it, but the name came up immediately when Tanaka pushed the idea. As if he could sense something Hinata couldn’t, Tanaka said it for him, 

“Komaeda or Tsumiki?”

The Mikan one was obvious. After all, she had been the one to technically introduce him to the trio. That and he had spent a lot of his time with her already. But Na- Komaeda, he’d barely talked about. Not even to himself. Well, okay- that was a flat out lie, but who wouldn’t? Hinata had seen ARGs on forums be less cryptic than the white-haired man. Hinata soon remembered the staff room incident. No, not that one, the other one. The first one. Where he’d caught Komaeda staring, from the look Tanaka was giving him made him guess that Hinata hadn’t been the only one to notice the staring eyes.

“Well, it would be nice to see Tsumiki. I wasn’t expecting her to come, but I have no interest in Komaeda, we don’t even know each other well.”

“That’s not what I asked. It’s very bold of you to assume you already know Tsumiki”

Do I not? I mean we’re not close, but considering I’ve only known her for less than 24 hours, I think I’ve gotten the gist of her character.

Tanaka rambled on, 

“Neither of them have expressed explicit interest in attending before. However, I’m sure as both of them have an interest in you they would come if you were the one inviting them on our behalf.”

Hinata’s felt his face burn up a notch, “As in your interest in Soda kinda interest or-”

Tanaka silenced him with his signature comic book villain laugh, “Is there something you're assuming regarding the bond Kazuichi and I share?”

Hinata laughed along with, apologising. Their conversation continued. By the time Soda had joined them, Hinata’s blush was still fading away. The mechanic seemed to have returned to his shark-tooth grin persona as he sat in the driver's seat.

“Woah, what’s got, you so flustered dude?”

“We were just sharing some amusing pleasantries about Hinata’s new co-workers” 

Soda’s ears perked up, “Oh yeah, how’re your first impressions so far?”

The truck’s engine was brought to life when Soda turned the key, he continued, “We’ve got a whole car ride, so unless you want to deal with shitty music taste~”

A small stack of CDs from bands he’d never heard of could be seen stuffed in one of the compartments. His mainstream taste couldn’t judge, but it looked like spilling the beans was all he had to do. 

Ultimately, the car ride didn’t seem that long when Hinata got the discussion going. They all shared various thoughts on the school and what Hinata thought about it and it’s occupants. He mentioned his new homeroom and how they were already a handful to deal with, along with various other key points of his day. With everything hitting him so suddenly it was hard to tell what wasn’t worth sharing. Obviously, he told them about the scissor throwing and meeting Mikan because of it. He was more hesitant to mention Nagito but found it was impossible not to mention him in at least one of the encounters. From which, he learned both of their stances on the man.

Tanaka seemed generally unbothered by him, if not disinterested, Soda on the other hand groaned, 

“Oh god, not that walking Conspiracy Theory” 

Hinata titled his head, and Soda gripped the steering wheel tighter.

“I don’t like to be a downer, but the man just gives me the creeps. It seemed fine when I first met him. He joined the school way after I did. Eh or was it not long before the blonde chick left, who knows. Either way, he took a real quick turn around the bend to crazy down. He’s convinced the school’s hiding some kinda conspiracy or something.”

“And yet he always sings his praises for the establishment”

Soda excitedly slammed one of his palms on the steering wheel, “See, Tanaka gets it! I know I ain’t one to talk, but jeez. It’s “I kinda regret telling the guy where I live” kinda creepy .”

Hinata felt the hairs on his arms raise slightly, “That bad? Why’d you give it to him?”

He saw the bright-haired man bit his lip as he paused, “Eh, back when I didn’t know the vibes I invited him. And, maybe not _that_ bad? He doesn't seem like he’d go out of his way to hurt someone, have you seen how sickly the guy looks? I’m no body-builder but even I could take him.”

Both Tanaka and Soda continued their debate, but Hinata’s mind went elsewhere. It drifted back to when he’d met Nagito when he’d seen him for the first time on that nurse bed. How bony the man’s arms had looked, the scars. The memory of connecting said scars to his own growing conspiracy soon followed suit. That itch to add what he’s just managed to dig up from Soda and Tanaka bit at his sides. He had to shake it off. To distract himself, he peered out at the moving scenery. A well-known scenery. 

Soda was currently driving through Hinata’s neighbourhood. It was a decent place, not quite a rough area, but far from a squeaky clean suburb. There were a few homes, but most of the housing here was quaint flat complexes. With the odd small business and Cornershop scattered amongst the two. There was also a park, but most of the plants were overgrown. Despite the community effort to keep the park going, Nanami had told him it had become a teenage hang out at this point. The kind of place you wouldn’t want to go to at night if you had a fear of delinquent teenagers. The graffiti on the park's walls were aesthetically pleasing at least, whoever painted them had talent. Faded paint and washed off areas from where the council had tried to intervene had only added to the odd charm of it. Whenever Hinata would leave his apartment he’d notice how the artist had drawn small additions overnight. 

Soon, they got close enough to Hinata’s place for him to point it out.

“Hey that’s my place, guess we don’t live that far apart from each other”

Trying to keep his eye on the road, Soda quickly looked and smiled, 

“Heh, I guess we do, I’m surprised you haven’t met me then. I usually get yelled out for blaring my music during the morning commute.”

  
  
  


“That was you!!”” Hinata blurted out. 

He thought back to all the unintentional early morning he’d had because someone felt the need to turn up their radio. If he was going to be jobless, he had at least wanted a decently later morning. Hence why he might’ve yelled at them once from behind his blinds to “shut the fuck up, it’s 7 am on a Saturday”

Tanaka snickered in his scarf as Soda attempted to defend himself, “C’mon it’s not that bad! It’s barely on a high volume, I only turn it up slightly”

“Why turn it up at all?”  
  


Soda wouldn’t give in, 

“Jjgfph- because! I can’t get away with it in the other neighborhoods. I like to ignore early morning thoughts y’know?”

They didn’t stop the friendly debate until they were a few houses away from Soda’s when Hinata had given up after realising that Soda was even more stubborn than he was. And, admittedly, his music taste wasn’t as dreadful as he’d thought it would be. One of the songs ended just as Soda pulled into his driveway. Everyone unfastened their seatbelts and hopped out of the vehicle. It had started to spit so he was glad they’d arrived sooner rather than later.

Soda was grabbing Hinata’s stuff out of the cargo bed for him so he decided to take a look at the place. 

It was a homely little one-story building that crammed in between two taller buildings. It had a garage next to the box of a house. A rusty old sign was at the front of the house alongside the mailbox. Other than that, there wasn’t anything notable about the place. It was average, just like Hinata. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a pop of pink. Maybe something more bright? Then it dawned on him that Soda was trying to hand him the bags. With a curt thank you he took them. Tanaka probably had his own key to the place as the door was already open. The two also made their way inside.

Both of them took off their shoes. Soda took them off him to stash away in a storage box by the TV. 

“Feel free to take a seat, dude, I’ll be back in a sec.”

Soda walked off into what Hinata was guessed was the kitchen. He sank down on the couch perpendicular to the one Tanaka had sat on. The man had taken off his heavy jacket and scarf, leaving his dark devas to scamper around the place. Hinata’s eyes followed them, watching them get up to mischief in the lounge. 

As for the lounge itself, it was pretty similar to the outside in terms of colour. Mostly blacks and browns, tans. The furniture probably had a few stories to tell. Two end tables were positioned on either side of the couch that Tanaka had sat on. However, this one had one splinted end table and a stack of glued together tyres as a replacement for the second. 

Hinata was going to get a closer look when he felt something nudge against his arm. Looking down, one of the hamsters was pulling at the cuff of his sleeve with it’s tiny teeth. Hinata made a small flicking motion with his wrist to get them to stop. Once they realised they had Hinata’s attention, they waddled over to one of the various cabinets and looked back at Hinata. 

Thankfully Soda came back in. He placed a beer on the coffee table for Hinata and some kind of vegan drink for Tanaka. He noticed where Hinata was looking and took a swig from his bottle before putting it down. 

“Ah hell yeah, I’ve got to show you this, one sec.”  
  


Ushering the eager hamster aside, Soda knelt down next to the cabinet and grabbed a key from on top, he turned the key. Hinata was expecting him to just open the door and flex something on him. Instead, Soda stood back. In their moments of waiting, Hinata could hear the clinch of something from instead of there. Then, the Cabinet rose up an inch on a mechanical platform. The doors opened up to reveal various little tubes and wheels for the hamsters to play on. 

Hinata took his own swig of beer because Lord did he need it. 

One of the more eager dark devas went straight for it. The others looked at Tanaka but joined the second he nodded his approval to them. Soda grinned as he fell back onto the couch next to Tanaka. 

“So, what do ya think? I built it for Tanaka. Just gotta wait until he can get his own place to take it back to his.”

Hinata smiled, though for once he’s like something to be normal, it was nice to see the hamsters enjoying themselves, “Yeah it’s cool, must’ve taken you a while.”

Soda shrugged, “Aw shucks, yeah it did, but I’d say it was worth it. I’ve made similar things before, but I’ve never had to worry about animal safety then.”

All of them drank as Soda rambled on about some of the work he’d done in the past, most notable how he’d almost hurt himself, doing said work. How Tanaka had more scars than he’d never know. Soda looked like he was about to comfy when he suddenly perked back up again. 

“Actually, yeah now that there are more people here, we could play some games.”

Hinata raised an eyebrow at it, but Soda continued anyway, 

“When it’s just me and Gundam party games don’t really hit the same way. So when we do something other than just chill, it’s usually cards or something.

“I thought you were rather fond of our late-night cards sessions” Tanaka added.

“Okay, yeah I am,” he paused and took a sip of his drink, “But c’mon, I’m the only one that’s touched the Wii or Xbox in months.”

Hinata pondered the idea. Due to Nanami’s obsession with games, he was familiar with sure, though not quite fond of them. No matter the fondness he wasn’t half bad at them. At least that’s what he told himself when Nanami kicked his ass. Neither Tanaka nor Hinata seemed a hundred percent convinced until Soda put some food for thought out there. 

“We could get takeaway? The winner doesn’t have to pay their share.”

Both Hinata’s stomach and wallet told him he was in, and Tanaka agreed too. 

“Sweet! I’ll go get changed into something more chill” He turned the corner into another room, shouting back to Tanaka, “Hey Gundam turn the console on for me will ya”

Gundam looked over at the TV display with a confused glance. Hesitantly he approached the setup and began fiddling with the TV. He’d successfully managed to turn the TV on its own on, but he sheepishly cast a glance back at Hinata when it came to console.

“Need a hand?” Hinata asked.

Tanaka nodded and stepped aside for Hinata, “My apologies. I may be skilled in dealing with many problems in this life. I am afraid technology is the one thing I’m foolishly weak to, however.”

“It’s fine, I get where you’re coming from,” Hinata replied.

 _I guess the Wii might be the better option for him then._ Hinata untangled the cords and plugged them into the TV. Having to be careful not to knock over the TV whilst he leaned over it. During his struggle, he heard the doorbell go. He looked up and Tanaka who in turn gave him a confused shrug. Hinata went back to the TV, switched it over to proper settings. Satisfied when he heard the classic Wii music on the screen. 

He turned around to see Tanaka talking to someone at the door. 

“I know it’s not appropriate to show up without prompting, but my phone died on the walk here.”  
  


Tanaka’s smile had creased back to his neutral mask as he talked to whoever was at the door. He’d crossed him and had placed his hand on his face.

“Hmm, I’m sure you’ll no bother, please take over your shoes. I’ll go fetch Kazuichi”

Tanaka left and walked into the room Soda was getting changed in. Earning a shriek and a cry of “dude I’m getting changed what the hell-”  
  


The visitor finally popped their head in through the door and Hinata’s heartbeat dropped to sync with the Wii theme. In the doorway, a drenched white-haired man stood lingering in the door. His once poofy hair was no soaking and flat against the side of his face. His grey eyes locked with Hinata’s and he that cursed smirk returned to his face.

“Oh, you’re here Hinata”

  
  
  


  
  


  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	5. - What a Lucky Man -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My sisters down from her city this week so my writing process was a lot less focused. Hence why you're getting this on a Monday not a Sunday. She's here until next week, so I'll see if I can still meet Sunday's deadline for Chapter 6, but I can't make promises due to the circumstances. 
> 
> Also, any images for this series are made by me. You can indirectly get updates from me through my art of the fics over at weepingwhispers on Instagram
> 
> I hope you enjoy though, thank you for your patience <3

Hinata wasn't quite sure how to process Komaeda here. A common occurrence of course. He was sure the face he was pulling was just as unflattering as Komaeda's new hairstyle. Hinata tried his best to hide whatever he was feeling behind his beer bottle Once Soda emerged from his room, him, not so much.

"Fuck, you look like shit dude," he muttered. 

Komaeda's attention shifted over to Soda, 

"Oh that's really my bad, I know how unsightly I must be to look at," he stated, "If I really am a bother, I can always go back to the pouring rain"

The newcomer shuffled back slightly as if he was getting ready to leave again. Sodas eyes pleaded to the closest to Komaeda, Hinata. It didn’t take long for him to get the message and he soon intervened between the exit and Komaeda. Using his spare hand he closed the door tight. Then leaned casually against it. He took another swig as a slight "fuck you" to the man in front of him. Almost as bitter as the beverage itself.

An eyebrow was raised at Hinata, but he just shrugged. Not even looking Komaeda in the eye. 

"It would even ruder to just barge in and then leave. At least let _Kazuichi_ get you a towel." Hinata continued sipping away after he finished. 

Komaeda winced at the name used, he opened his mouth, but Soda cut him off before he could say anything, 

"Uh, don't worry Komaeda, you ain't gonna be a bother," He gestured a thumb back down towards the hall, "Bathrooms there if you wanna, y’know.”

Soda rubbed his finger against his own cheek. Komaeda didn't seem to get the signal that some form of make-up was running down his face. Even Hinata hadn’t noticed he was wearing any in the first place. Unlike Tanaka who’s application of it was a lot less subtle. 

As usual, Komaeda muttered his deprecative gratitude and made his way into the bathroom. The door closed with a precise click. With that click, the tension holding up Hinata’s shoulders deflated. He moved away from the door and slumped back on the couch. His sigh masked in the little, poof sound the couch made. 

Other than the sudden presence of Komaeda, Sodas posture was his default hand-behind-head slouch. He'd changed into a pair of somehow more baggy sweatpants. His beanie still remained, however. Hinata swore the thing was inseparable from him.

No one chose to talk about what happened while they waited for Komaeda to finish up in the bathroom. Tanaka did. In a way. But his concerns mostly came from where he'd gone, not what was going to happen now they had extra company. It wasn't that Soda wasn't prepared by the looks of it. Just a glance at the absurd amount of Wii controllers he had given that away. He seemed to have more than Nanami did, and at least she had Hinata there to use one of the spares. 

"You guys got any preferences for multiplayer?" Soda asked over his shoulder, "I've got just about every crappy kart racer in the books" 

Hinata took a peek at the games in front of Soda and chuckled, 

"I didn't even know Shrek kart racing was a thing" 

"Heh, it's amazing what ye can find people trying to throw away. Look I even found big brand games for free-"

Soda offered Hinata a smile as he shuffled through some of the Wii games. Giving summary length stories of how he'd stumbled across them at dumps and garage sales. He found out a little more when Tanaka chimed back in. Mentioning how they would often donate most of their finds went to an animal fundraiser. 

"Some of it just doesn't match the criteria set by the fundraiser" 

Hinata smirked, "I mean, I don't know, I'd pay a pretty penny for Shrek Kart racing"

Tanaka scoffed, "I'm afraid that's merely not the case here naive Hinata. You see this game is a cursed one. Levels are tortuous to navigate as a result of such a blemish."

_Leave some melancholy for us buddy._

Hinata turned his head to Soda for a translation. To demonstrate, Soda popped open the case to show how busted the disk looked. Tanaka's hamsters would've run on it and caused less damage,

"Thing glitches like all hell makes it fun, but it takes-"

"Takes the luckiest soul of the bunch to win a match" Tanaka finished his sentence for him. Soda nodded in agreement. 

As they said that the door clicked and a less drenched Komaeda emerged from the bathroom. He'd cleaned up a bit. The makeup that had been running down was gone. Revealing how heavy the bags under his eyes in fact were. The damp mop that was on his head had puffed up slightly more. If you were to stare at him for long enough, you could probably watch it rise like a baking muffin. He still had his green jacket draped over him. Soda insisted he take off it, that he didn't mind drying it off for him. Yet Komaeda just shook his head. A simple flashback to the nurse’s office told Hinata why. 

"Uh, well anyway Komaeda, we were just planning on playing some games. Y'know if that's cool with you. I could go get some snacks while we wait, but we were gonna turn it into a competition. The winner doesn't have to pay towards the takeaway kinda deal." Soda explained that night's plan to Komaeda. Meanwhile, Tanaka handed out the controllers. Hinata put his beer down and happily took two of them off of him. 

Soda had left Komaeda standing to go get something from the kitchen again. Hinata held the controller out. Komaeda stared back at it blankly.

Hinata's arm was on the edge of aching before Komaeda finally picked up the controller. A muttered thank-you escaped the man’s lips. Other than that they remained sealed. Of the two seats available, Komaeda still chose to share the couch with Hinata. Though with the distance he put between them, it might as well had been the two separate chairs. The Wii theme and the scratching of hamsters was all the noise Hinata had to distract himself from Komaedas occasionally fumbling. Tanaka's presence was a minor distraction too. That was, until a clatter of glass, and several oh shits could be heard from the kitchen. Followed by a defeated plead for assistance that Tanaka answered. Which was why both Hinata and Komaeda were left to passively watch the hamsters scamper around. 

Neither of them addressed each other, just passively waited for the two to return. In the silence. The awkward, long, frustrating silence. 

To fill it, Hinata reached for his bottle again. 

"So you did you get invited or just show up?" Komaeda interrupted.

Hinata had to blink real quick to realise Komaeda was talking to him. Eyes that were once focused on the hamsters had honed in on Hinata leaning in for the bottle. 

So he would stop getting watched, he leaned back into the couch. 

"Um, invited, Tanaka" 

Komaeda hmmed in response, his gaze peacefully retiring back to hamsters. 

"What about you? They, um mentioned how they'd invited loads of the staff members before. You didn't seem like the party kinda guy to me."

Komaeda shook his head, "Yeah.. you're not entirely wrong. I have been invited before, and I do dread parties too. However, I only hesitated before because I don't want to burden them with my attendance."

"What changed your mind then?" 

Hinata noticed the man’s eyes shift back to the bottle again. When Komaeda realised it hadn't been touched, a smile slipped onto his face. 

"You, I suppose. I caught wind you were attending from Tsumiki."

Thoughts ticked in Hinata's brain. _Mikan was there, wasn't she? Oh yeah, right. It was in the staff room when-_

"Wait, hold up, no! That's wrong, you knew because you were eavesdropping when I was invited" Hinata interjected.

That smirk on Komaedas face turned a bit, "Oh so you were paying attention to your surroundings. Good."

"Don't twist this. Why ask if you knew?"

Komaeda mimicked Hinatas shrug from earlier, 

"You seemed pent up. It would be selfish of us to ruin a lovely evening between two professionals. I took a lucky guess it was about me and poked."

Hinata went to speak but Komaeda but a finger to his lips, 

"You're taking this personally, it's only you. So it's not"

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Hinata’s brow furrowed.

Soda and Tanaka re-entered the room, for what was, hopefully, the last time. Both of them were carrying an extra drink and some bowls filled with snacks. Komaeda focused his attention on them, mumbling, 

“You’re the one who studied languages, you figure it out”

_I studied languages, not whatever psycho-shit you’re pulling._

Hinata had to hold back his temptation to engage with Komaeda any further. He allowed his brain to make up retorts in his, but he put on his “all is well” face for his host. That was the only thing he could agree with Komaeda on. Despite, Soda’s unsure reactions to their white-haired company, he was seemingly enjoying the prospect of finally hosting that get together. Alongside the drink, they’d brought in for Komaeda there were bowls of rather healthy snacks. Hinata hadn’t put down Soda as the nutritious eater type. However, when Tanaka whistled for the hamsters he realised why their snacks consisted of nuts and apple slices. Fortunately, Tanaka had picked a more hygienic system for them. The devas weren’t allowed to go in the bowls and scrounge the food. Instead, they had to squeak by the bowl they wanted and whoever was paying attention had to fish out some treats for them. Hence the bombardment of hungry squeaks whilst Soda was setting up the game. This left Hinata and Komaeda to attend to them. Jum-P had returned to using him as a bed, whilst the other three tried to eat.

Tried was the keyword.

Similar to how Mikan had been shaky around the devas initially, the devas kept backing away from Komaeda. He’d hold out an apple slice between his fingers for them to take and they’d sniff it before scuttling away. Tanaka would interject with words of animal handling wisdom, yet to little avail. Instead, they continued to bug Hinata for food. Oddly enough though Komaeda didn’t seem to mind. He watched Hinata do the work. A smile for the hamsters, but his usual blank slate expression for Hinata. 

With a slight whack of the Wii console, Soda had finally got the game to load. It’s tacky menu music emitted from the speakers, causing both Hinata and Soda to hold back a snicker at its shitpost quality. The sadder of the two being Soda who had already witnessed it, but still found it amusing. Soda pressed start and they all loaded into the character select screen.

“Now that the machinery is working, way I ask how this is going to work out?” Tanaka queried.

“Oh yeah right” Soda perked again, “The novelty of a broken game can wear off pretty quickly, so I was thinking 6 races? So two matches altogether. Each place you rank is worth a certain amount of points so whoever gets the most, wins kinda deal. Sound good?”

Everyone nodded.

Abruptly, Hinatas phone started buzzing in his pocket. He jumped and rummaged to find his pocket. He flicked open the lock screen. With Komaeda not so subtly leaning in to see what it was. Usami popped up on the screen.

“If I heard right, you guys require a magical girl referee”

Komaeda looked taken aback when he heard the cutesy voice ring through the phone. Usami continued, 

“If you want then I can add up all the points for you whilst you play, it’ll save having to do the math”

Soda grinned, “I’m not going to say no to no math, thanks Usami.”

“No problem! Hinata, would you mind-?” 

Usami moved towards the edge of the phone to where the coffee table was. Hinata flipped the phone case so it could prop the phone up and faced it toward the TV. She chirped her thanks before settling down. Presumably setting up a counter. Hinata leaned forward to grab his controller. Everyone had begun selecting their characters. Tanaka and Hinata didn’t seem bothered by who they picked. Meanwhile, Soda took his sweet time in the name of strategizing. He still took less time than Komaeda who had zoned out. Hinata nudged him, a tad freaked out that it was his direction Komaeda had been looking in. Komaeda rushed the usual self-deprecating apology and the games began. 

Race one of match one wasn’t so bad. 

Sure the controls were relatively clunky at times, but for the most part, it was smooth racing. Soda came in first place, followed by Hinata in second. Tanaka and Komaeda didn’t do so well, with Tanaka placing eighth and Komaeda last. Komaeda seemed too distracted to even realise he was losing either.

Race two was the same, except Hinata won this time.

It was on the third race however when the game disk had decided it had enough, and the glitching began. Carts were suddenly with missing textures and unfortunately for Soda a missing driver. Power-ups wouldn’t respond to button pushes and if they did, it was rarely in your favor. Such was the case for poor Tanaka, who didn’t understand how his character couldn’t get out from one of the obstacles. Soda put his controller down to help him get out, which knocked them both down significantly in ranks. Tanaka to last place, Soda to tenth. Hinata came third.

“Hey look at that, at least Komaeda doing better now” Soda took a sip of his drink ready for the next round.

Hinata looked at the slot below him to see that Komaeda had crept his way up to fourth. Even if he unresponsive to the fact.

The games from here just got progressively worse for everyone except Komaeda. Race four and five saw fit that both Soda and Hinata be dethroned from their higher rankings. With glitch after glitch stagnating their progress. Some were just laughable, such as some of the models losing some of their assets. Which caused the characters to contort in ways that only gen zers would find funny. Hinata asked Usami to send a picture to Nanami for him, in between poking fun at it. Assuming she’d find it funny. Or maybe it was just Soda and Hinata. For whenever it happened, Komaeda and Tanaka would exchange looks of confusion as to why Soda was wheezing at something he’d been previously annoyed at. 

Speaking of annoying glitches, it was also those two who were at the brunt end of those glitches two. Glitches such as the character model jumping back a few steps. That way, you’d turn at the wrong point, or fall off a platform. 

It was a lot better for Komaeda however, who only seemed to be blessed with the better glitches. Such as the ones that led to endless power-ups, or ones that would launch him forward on the track when he was about to get hit.

Game five ended with Komaeda in first place. So did the final round.

All the commotion, between laughing and “oh cmon” Hinata kept waking up the sleeping deva. He looked over to Komaeda. The man was scratching at the skin on his wrist, waiting for Tanaka and Soda to finish the race. There was still an unspoken distance rule between the two, but even with that Hinata could eerily note how worn out his skin looked. Hinata figured he could kill two birds with one stone though.

He tapped Komaeda on the shoulder, gesturing for him to shuffle closer to him. Unsurprisingly Komaeda doesn’t comply. After pestering him, that one centimeter wasn’t what Hinata meant by closer, he’d shuffled over enough to a point where there was no longer a noteworthy gap between the two’s shoulders. 

Before Komaeda could decide otherwise, Hinata gently tugged on the squishy tail of the hamster. Jum-P squeaked and dashed forward at the sudden prod, jumping onto Komaeda’s shoulder in a tired haze. The deva turned around to huff in disapproval at Hinata. They were either too annoyed, or too tired to realise it was Komaeda they were now on.

Either way, they went back to sleep. Curled up between the softness of Komaedas hair and his jacket.

Komaeda froze still, smiling as he watched the critter snooze away.

“Hmm not bad Hinata, quite a peculiar trick to play on a dark deva”

Hinata looked over to see that Tanaka had watched the exchange. The final race was over and the two had leaned back to relax. Soda had his arm stretched out on the cushion behind Tanaka. The screen had switched over to a results table, showing how Soda had placed last for that round, and Tanaka ninth.

“How’d you know Jum-P’s only weakness was soft things?” Tanaka continued.

Hinata smiled, “Eh, lucky guess”

Usami giggled jumping back into the conversation,

“You could’ve used that luck for this competition Hinata”

She’d easily grabbed Soda’s attention, “Shoot, yeah, how’d we do Usami?”

Hinata turned the phone so it was facing everyone, moving his and Komaedas drinks out the way for a better view. Usami’s avatar pulled out a rather childish looking graph. Each with silly little doodles above a tally of everyone’s points. Each with a 1st, 2nd, 3rd or fourth sticker next to each other.

The graph read as follows:

Soda, 4th place.

Tanaka 3rd place.

Hinata 2nd place

Komaeda 1st place.

“Aw man, I really lost huh? How’d I lose?” Soda sulked slightly, but the grin on his face still told Hinata he’d enjoyed it still.

“Oh well, we’ll cough it up,” He leaned over to the end table, retrieving both his wallet and phone from the end table. 

“Hey Shirokuma, could you bring up a takeaway menu, please?”

A voice similar to Usami’s replied back with a “certainly.” This time it was Hinatas turn to be surprised by an AIs presence, though he guessed it made sense for Soda to have one of his own. Komaeda didn’t bat an eyelid, but Hinata just had to guess that he wasn’t paying attention.

Both Hinata and Tanaka got out their own wallets too. Hinata’s was significantly less full. He tried not to bring money on him if he could help it. Not that he had much anyway, but mostly to avoid spending what he might need for an emergency bill or an unexpected spike in groceries. He supposed takeaway counted as groceries, right?

Komaeda had noticed Hinata and rummaged in his jacket pocket for something. He soon pulled out his own wallet.

“You don’t have to worry about it Komaeda. You won the game remember-?”

Komaeda shut Hinata up when he dumped way too much yen on the table.

Soda did a mixture between a chuckle and cough, “Woah calm down Togami, what’s all that for?”

“Takeaway?” Komaeda sounded confused before he clarified further, “You couldn’t really expect me to take your hospitality for granted, could you? It’s only fair after I so rudely interrupted your evening”

Soda bit his lip at Komaeda's response. Perhaps it was too much of them to expect Komaeda to drop the, well Nagitoness from his way of speaking.

Hinata tried to reason with Komaeda that this was unnecessary. Komaeda just raised an eyebrow at the lack of substance in Hinatas wallet. He soon realised arguing with someone richer than you never works out well.

Once he’d convinced Tanaka as well, they all put away their wallets and ordered from the menu Soda readout for them. Time must’ve flown by because it was already too dark outside for Hinata’s liking. They all unanimously decided they just wanted to lounge about, so Hinata went to unplug the Wii and all its various cables. Soda decided he wanted a smoke break and Komaeda tagged along. Claiming he didn’t mind the fumes, he just wanted some fresh air now the rain had stopped. Soda could’ve pitched a whole presentation on the dangers of passive smoking. And he doubted it would shake Komaeda from coming. So he reluctantly allowed him to join him on the balcony sized patio outback. 

Tanaka and Hinata were left to some casual discussion in the living room.

“I’m sensing some indistinguishable auras from you Hinata. Is everything alright?”

Hinata blew the hair out of his face as he tried to focus on unplugging the right chords, “I’ve got some company with indistinguishable motives is all”

Tanaka nodded slowly, as if he was carefully taking in something, “Komaeda may be a troubling soul to many, but have you opened yourself to the possibility that he is more troubled than troubling.”

“Oh he’s troubled that’s for sure. Even your hamsters were afraid of him.”

Tanaka tutted, “Are you implying you too fear him? Whilst I am not as fond of the man, there’s no need to fear such a broken soul.”

Hinata finished fiddling with the cables and turned to face him,

“What do mean broken?”

“The dark devas are souls sometimes even wiser than I am Hinata. They do not fear people, they merely fear breaking people. Hence their hesitation-”

“That makes no fucking sense” Hinata interrupted. He sat back on the couch. Gundam sighed and joined him. Arms crossed.

“Indeed, it’s true that the devas thought process might be beyond your human comprehension as an outsider.”

“There’s a butt isn’t there?”

Tanaka huffed, “There would be if you let me get to the point.”

He continued, “Anyway, as I was saying. You must’ve noticed there’s more to him than he lets you see. Yet who’s to say that secret is a bad thing. You just met all of us, and I assure you none of us is a puny extract you can dissect in a lesson’s duration. If you want to know more about someone, you have to read them fifty times over.”

“You’re starting to sound like my GrandMother.” 

Tanaka chuckled, “These streaks are not grey yet Hinata.”

“Btw, unless you want Jum-P to age rapidly, I’d suggest you get him off Komaeda before his lil lungs breath in too much”

Tanaka jumped out of his seat, thanking Hinata for the reminder. Before speed walking his way over to decking outback. Hinata sighed, thankful Tanaka’s love for the devas health was greater than his love of moral lecturing. He took it upon himself to clean up the coffee table while the others were gone. Usami had switched herself off, which Hinata realised was because he had little battery left on it. Meaning he had nothing better to do anyway. 

He picked up the empty bottles and the one bowl that was clean. Walking off towards the kitchen. He carefully placed the bowl in the growing pile of dishes. All of which had been stacked in a kack-handed manner. Noticing the stray piece of glass on the floor, Hinata pieced together why Soda must’ve been in distress earlier. He disposed of the bottles in the tub labeled, recycling, Treading carefully in case there were any more stray shards of glass. 

Just above the tub was a small window into the patio, where he could see the three of them talking amongst themselves. Tanaka now holding the sleepy hamster in his hands.

He wondered what they were talking about.

He didn’t have much time to speculate because the doorbell went off soon after.

“Already? Damn that was quick.” 

Hinata knocked on the backdoor, signaling to the three it was here. Soda nodded from behind the glass, putting out his cigarette on the ashtray before coming back in. The other two followed him. Nagito coming in last. It was weird to see, but he was smiling. Not the creepy, “I know something you don’t” grin, but just a smile. The kind that earned a surprised one back from Hinata.

“What’s got you so happy?” 

“Do I not normally look happy?” Komaeda asked Hinata rolled his eyes.

“No not in the day I’ve known you. you haven’t.”

Komaeda gave him a weightless shrug, “Maybe that fresh air did me wonders”

“Or maybe you’ve inhaled too much tobacco”

They both smiled as they joined Soda and Tanaka for dinner. Soda was already setting the food up when they entered, all they had to do was chow. 

  
  
  
  



	6. - Izuru Kamakura -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoop, I'm back. My sister has gone home, so I finally have the space to write again.  
> Anyway, this chapters a reminder that Hinata is low key a bit of an asshole in-game, and he is meant to be here. He's just keeping his negative traits under as much lock and key as he can.  
> He's just not Togami level, he's average annoyed joe level.  
> Because let's be honest everyone in Danaganronpa is an emotionally troubled person.

The frigid silence rang in Hinata's ear louder than any of the commotion of that day. By the time he'd arrived back at his dingy apartment, night had long since fallen. The scent of the night air tried to creep its way in as he closed the door with a satisfying click. He had to fumble in the dark for the light switch. His hand eventually found it amongst the other clutter on the walls and he switched it on. Carefully not to wake up Nanami, he slid off his shoes at the door. Almost banging his ankle against the shoe rack. Then, when he'd mentally ticked off everything he had to do, he stumbled over to the couch and collapsed. 

That was it, this was his bed now. 

He wasn't moving until the morning and if he didn't need to function, Monday morning at the earliest.

Hinata groaned into the throw pillow held tightly against his chest. His various bags had merely been dumped wherever he'd let go of them. And even without a mirror, he knew he looked like a mess. 

That familiar ache in his bones begged for sleep. His mind wouldn't allow it. He still had so much to go through and no one to go through it with. The new job, the new students, the new co-workers, Komaeda-

Fucking christ, Komaeda. 

That throw pillow should've had claw marks on from how his grip tighten at that name. 

A conspiracy theory? Fine. One that everyone else seems to be in on at your workplace? He could bare that. Him? Nope, Usami help him could he not 

After the blissful dinner with the four of them, Hinata had decided to take his leave. Usami was gone because of his phone battery and he didn't want to worry his roommate by not returning. Or at least alerting her.

Hinata was fine to leave what happened at Soda's house, at Soda's house. Remember the fun chill moments, and do his best to forget that Komaeda was only there for him. Komaeda didn't seem to agree. 

He could sculpt that smug smirk from memory alone. The one he wore when he offered to walk Hinata home. 

Sure, Komaeda had behaved after their passive-aggressive squabble. Yet, behaving was surely an act. Komaeda had admitted as such himself. That's what the line must have meant. He was only doing it for the sake of Soda and Tanaka.

Why had he wanted to escort Hinata home then? To lecture him some more about, whatever it was he rambled about? Hinata couldn't even remember. Everything just went fuzzy when he started talking sometimes. 

Hinata would have preferred that to what he got; small talk. 

Not the psychiatrist interrogation kind. More questions akin to, "did you have fun?", "lovely night isn't it?" At some point Hinata had sworn he'd asked the equivalent of "are we there yet?" 

Y'know, the accepted brand of questions from your coworker you barely know.

Hinata knew he should be pleased by it. However, if Komaeda kept up this tonal rollercoaster, Hinata knew he was going to throw up when he got off it. 

Either way, he knew it wasn't the beer or cheap takeaway which was sending his stomach in somersaults. 

With a fully-packed sigh, Hinata turned onto his back. Absently, he stared up at the ceiling. Under his best attempt to unpack his thoughts. One, by one.

Until sleep finally had the generosity to claim him, and he dozed off to the hum of his own mind.

It was a few minutes later when the faint blips and beeps of a console whispered through the apartment. A slight creak. On the over side of the room, a door opened. Strawberry pink eyes stared out from the dim lighting.

The next thing Hinata knew, he'd woken up. A newfound blanket tossed over him and coffee waited for him. 

\---

Monday morning came sooner than Hinata had preferred. When the consistent buzz of his alarm clock went off, he groaned, banging his hand against the counter to silence it. He closed his eyes again to get a few more winks of sleep. Then his second, more whimsical, the alarm clock went off. 

"Hinata! What are you doing in bed still?!"

He jerked up, crazing his head against the bedpost, 

"Ouch, Usami! The hell, I didn't ask you to set an alarm" 

Hand on head, he reached out for his phone on the side. The purity of Usami's colour scheme strung his bed-ridden eyes as he addressed the virtual bunny. She huffed, her magical girl staff pointing at Hinata from behind the screen. 

"Well, perhaps you didn't. But it's Usami's job to make sure your life is in tip-top shape. So kindly, get your behind outta bed!" 

He rolled his eyes, placing the phone face down on the counter again. 

"Don't ignore me Hinata!" Usami called out before her voice was muffled.

Despite his desire to do just that, she did have a point. A yawn and a stretch later, he dragged himself up. He headed towards the bathroom. Eyes still adjusting to the light at the time. 

He realised how right Usami was in her urgency was when he looked in the mirror. His short hair was all scraggly, flat in some places, spiky in others. There was still sleep in his eyes and his face was red from where he'd slept on his arm. Not to mention the faint scar he had from the scissor incident. Though it was a faint one, the colour contrast between the two made it stick out nonetheless. 

Comb in hand, he began fixing himself up. 

A good 20 minutes had gone by and he was finally adjusting his tie in the mirror. Shoulders sagging whenever his tie was either too short or too long. The grog of the morning wasn't as strong, but it was sure stubborn. Hence Hinata's need to tie his tie so many times. After the fourth time, he said screw and left at the length it was. 

He needed to leave for the bus soon if he wanted to catch it. Meaning it was a, scavenge through the kitchen and scram, morning. 

Once in the main room, he noticed his roommate was out of her for a change. Huddled over the kitchen counter with a colourful bowl of diabetes-flavored cereal was Nanami. Her hair was neatly tucked behind her ear as she hummed to herself. Eyes locked on her bowl in front of her.

Hinata noticed them move when he came in, as she stopped slouching over the counter.

“Oh good morning Hinata.”

He smiled as he brushed past her, targeting the cupboards. A humble reply of “good evening” was rushed out.

Nanami tried to giggle as she watched him, faff around with the food in the cupboard.

“Good evening? That new job is really getting to you, isn’t it?” Nanami queried.

She had gone back to aimlessly stirring her cereal. There was only so much of Hinata’s cack-handedness a woman could take before it was more sad than humorous. 

A slight hmm was all she got in response. Hinata was too pre-occupied trying to fit all his stuff in the brief-case Togami had given him. Why he didn’t know, only so many of the teachers he’d seen used there’s. Either way, he was determined to cram the stupid thing shut. 

“Are you not going to vent about it? That’s what usually happens when I want to eat my cereal” Nanami decided to prod him with teasing, but even that just earned a “can’t gonna be late” mumble.

She would have dug deeper until she heard the click of the briefcase, and she knew he’d be out the door soon. Sure enough, Hinata shuffled his way past and to the door. He slipped on his shoes. Then he grabbed his stuff, patting down his pockets like he was always doing to check he had everything. With that, he was gone, closing the door behind him. Offering a hurried goodbye that echoed in the empty apartment. 

Nanami was left with only the clanks of her spoon against her bowl. Luckily for her, Mondays was her day off, so she could at least eat her breakfast without having to rush. What also gave her time to think about, was Hinata. 

She's had roommates in the past, but none quite like him. Not all of them were mean per se. One of the older ladies she had first rented out to was motherly in fact, just not towards Nanami. At the end of the day, Nanami was just a glorified landlord to them. Hinata had changed that in the few months he'd been here. He cared. 

Nanami took a few more bites of her food Eventually, it was shoved aside once she realised she wasn't feeling it. 

Her attention soon fell to the same seating area they shared. More precisely, the discarded 3DS on the coffee table. It brought her back to the beginning

For it was Hinata's coffee table. Well, he preferred to call it-

" **Grandma's table."**

Nanami tilted her head, "But, you have it?"

She wiped her hands on her skirt to clean off the dust. 

So far they'd managed to haul most of Hinata's stuff up in one stair trip. For the man didn't seem to have much to his name. Other than the out of place table that was. Nanami wasn’t an interior designer by any means, but even she could see how the Chabudai style seemed odd amongst the modern decor.

Her new roommate shrugged, “Sure, it is now, but it’ll always be her table to me”

She watched him as he took off some of the boxes from the table. Strands of his black hair were escaping his ponytail as bent down. Nanami hmmed in response as she leaned against the wall, 3DS now in hand. Once she had a game booted up, she was only half paying attention to him and what he was unpacking. And he was content to the same. He went about his business, opening boxes and then taking the more personal ones to his room. Which was most of them par one which had something scribbled in a language she didn’t know? 

Nanami tried to focus on the beeps and boops from her console. The blue light reflecting on her wide eyes. Only fading whenever she hit the unfortunate game over screen. It was within those small windows of time that she’d pick up on attributes of her company. 

Such being, how his long hair she’d noticed earlier looked more untamed than it did silky. Or how his posture was almost as bad as hers. She had years of gaming addiction to blame for that, she wondered what caused his. A small giggle escaped her lips. 

_Hmm I guess it’s all that hair weighing him down_

The more she watched from a distance, the more she noticed. Such as how many books seemed to be in one of the boxes. some just looked like notepads, some textbooks maybe? It was hard to tell from how they were stacked, but one, in particular, caught her interest. It was the one on top, and the cover seemed to have a pixelated ocean as the background 

She went to investigate when she heard a thud from the spare room. Along with several hushed curses. 

Nanami was tempted to use him being distracted to take a long look at the book. Ultimately, she ended up putting down the 3DS on the table and peeping into the spare room. 

Now it was quite the sight let me tell you-

The box her roommate Hinata was carrying had some of its contents scattered on the floor. Mostly socks and a shirt that was falling out of the tipped over cardboard. Hinata had his main priority of attempting to untangle his caught hair. The ends of his ponytail were twisted around a stray wall hook. One of her previous roommates had nailed in to hang up spare clothes, not to trap some poor dudes hair.

His eyebrows were heavily furrowed as his fingers tried to untangle it. Nanami had to step in when she realised he was a second away from just yanking it out.

“Let me help,” 

Hinata looked at her and scoffed a “have at it.” Before stepping aside so she could squeeze between him and the hook.

Her fingers were able to make more nimble of the knot than he had. It seemed that his pulling had just tightened the knot, causing terrible friction. Despite how she was made much more effective work of it, it was still a tedious process thanks to the struggle. 

They could both hear each other breathing amongst the silence. Hinatas was hitched as if he was trying to hold it in. Nanami wasn’t entirely sure if the sigh when she finished was from a lack of oxygen or relief.

“Um thank you for the help, this stupid hair is a nightmare,” he muttered.

“Oh, you don’t like having long hair?” Nanami questioned.

Hinata had got on his knees to pick up the box and it’s escaped contents. He shook his head, 

“Not really? It’s a pain in the ass, that’s not the first time I’ve caught it in something either.”

“Then, why don’t you cut it off?” 

Hinata glared at her as if the concept she’d just suggested was alien. He didn’t say anything in response. He went about his unpacking routine, loading some of his clothes into a rickety wardrobe. Nanami stayed in the room. She remained idle, her eyes not trained on anything in particular. Something that seemed to bug Hinata

“Um, is there anything I can help you with, or-?”

He looked over at her whilst he refolded his shirt. His tone was a lot more gritty than he had perhaps wanted to show. Upon realising he was talking to her, Nanami perked up.

“I guess, I was thinking.” She stated.

Hinata was waiting for her to add the about, but she had gone back to the thinking bit.

“About..?” 

She looked up, making eye contact, “You.”

He halted, putting what he was holding down. Hinata blinked, his face scrunched up a tad.

“..Me?”

Nanami casually nodded, “Yup, you. I just don’t know a lot about you is all.”

Hinata chuckled at the notion,

“No shit, you’ve just met me haven’t you?”

“True. However, it would be nice to know the basics. Separate the assumptions from the real you.”

Hinata just rolled his eyes, “You’re clearly new to this. You don’t have to know anything about someone in order to live with them.”

“I at least knew the full name of my other roommates. You don’t have to, I just thought it might be nice”

He went silent. Perhaps he was just ignoring her again. Nanami’s mind began to waver again before he replied, having actually thought about it.

“I’m not looking for anything buddy-buddy, so just don’t go there.” He returned back to the wardrobe. 

**“But what was it you wanted to know?”**

It was at that point when Nanami officially knew him as Hajime and not just Hinata. 

To be fair, it had taken a lot of patience to learn more about the man over the coming months. He was always polite to her about it, just not always nice. She could always tell when he was judging someone, but just wouldn’t openly tell them. 

Yet would get annoyed at people for the slightest bit for cryptic wording. It was like he saw people as books he had to analyse for an assignment, but he was terrible analyser.

Nanami didn’t fault him for it though. Whilst he wouldn’t tell her what exactly was going on with him, there was something. She didn’t push him for it, just let the small layers of angst slowly peel back the longer she lived with him. One was how she found out the writing on that box was English, and he’d moved here from Calfornia. Another was the fact that he had a similar older cousin. The author Izuru Kamakura.

Upon finding the book on grandma’s table on night, she thought that he was the author. After all, the author’s did often use pen names. And something like Izuru Kamakura sure sounded like a badass name to her.

The little info on the back also seemed to line up with what she knew about him too.

She was dead wrong. 

Complimenting him on his book did lead to him opening up, but Nanami sure did get an earful for the assumption. She never thought someone would yell at her for being falsely called successfully. Many would’ve taken it as a compliment.

His turning point though was the hair cut. 

She turned around to face the tiny kitchen. A warm smile slipped onto her face as she stared at the sink. 

**It around three weeks after he’d moved in.**

She was leaning against the kitchen sink, waiting for the tea kettle to boil. It was late evening and she’d not long gotten home from her old job. Working for a video-game company had seemed like a dream job until it leads to you coming home and just not wanting to play video games. Sure, it had put a spanner in the works of her addiction, but it just made the quiet evenings even longer. 

Nanami had been itching for something to do. The sun-setting hadn’t been a big enough deterrent to give in and go to sleep. Too many sleepless nights made sleeping before at least midnight a chore.

Hinata had been out of sight all day. In fact, she’d barely heard from him the past couple of days. So trying to talk to him wasn’t an option. 

She rubbed her eyes with the sleeve of her baggy jacket. At last, the kettle finished purring and she reached into the cupboard. She pulled out a mug for herself. Nanami hmmed when she saw the other cups. A glance was shot towards Hinata’s bedroom door.

_Was he home?_

Whilst she poured her own water, she looked around. His keys were still by the door so unless he’d snagged her, he hadn’t gone far. 

Using her spare hand, she grabbed another mug from the cupboard. She dunked a chocolate flavoured tea bag into hers and regular for him in case he wasn’t a fan. Once she’d finished up she grabbed both of the mugs and headed over to the living area.

“Hey, Hinata? I made you a cup of tea if you want it,” she called out.

Nanami slouched down onto the couch, tucking her knees in her jacket as she snuggled up with the beverage. 

She sat like that for a bit. Her eyelashes dropping as she stared into the void. Aka Hinata’s tea. Watching as the steam rose and fell, sipping hers as she did so. 

A solid 5 minutes went by and she hadn’t heard a peep from Hinata. It wasn’t unusual for him not to join her. It was the same with previous roommates. What was unusual was the faint sounds she heard from Hinata’s room. 

She was lucky that he was a docile roommate. If not an opinionated one. Yet when he went in his room it was as if he didn’t even live there. Before Nanami would always hear her roommates talking on the phone to someone, or blaring their music, or sounds she wishes she could forget.

So to hear him, worried her a little.

_What was he doing?_

She zoned in on the sound. It was muffled, but it sounded like, sobbing?

“Hinata?” Nanami called out again. Her tone waved from its usual soothing sound. 

After some sort of shuffling noise, he answered, “J-just a sec, I’ll get the tea in a minute.”

The shiver in his voice sent one down Nanami’s neck. 

Placing her cup next to his, she got up to knock on the door,

“Hinata is everything alright-”

Just as put her hand on the door, it creaked open to reveal a dishevelled Hinata. He was lingering near the door, just close enough so that he could open it. It was hard to tell under his mop of hair, but his eyes were puffy. It stuck him that Nanami was right in front of him and he backed up.

“Sorry, didn’t um, see you there” he mumbled.

He put his free hand up to his face, it was trembling. The other was holding a book he tried to shield, but Nanami knew the one. 

“Is that -?” Nanami spoke softly, she pointed down to her hand. She looked up at him and he reluctantly nodded. A sniffle interrupting him as he tried to respond. A sniffle then turned into a tear and the next thing he knew he was trying to hold back tears again. 

His hand rubbed at his eyes to wipe away the tears to little avail. The grip he had on the book tightening. Nanami gave him a moment to cry it out. Partially because she was unsure how to react, but also because she knew he’d just walk away if she pushed him. When his sniffling eased out a bit, she reached a hand up towards his shoulder. She didn’t say anything to him, she gestured over towards the couch. He nodded and sheepishly followed her out of his room. When they reached the table, he set the book down on Grandma’s table. Nanami was about to sit down on the couch when he spoke up.

“Um, i-is it okay if we sit by the table instead? Just this once”

_The couch is next to the table?_

It wasn’t until Hinata took one of the pillows and set it down on the floor did she get the angle he was going for. She nodded, grabbing the other pillow and mimicking what Hinata did. They were now sat opposite each other across the small table. Nanami slid over his tea. He nodded a thank you. Still making the occasional whimpering noise. She continued to patiently watch him, and he seemed to get the message. Tea still in hand, he pushed the copy of Kamakura’s book towards her. 

She looked down at the cover. The image of the pixelated girl sat on a pier had always unnerved her slightly. She was faceless, and just staring down at the ocean, as a wave hungover from behind. There was the title, and then Kamakuras name at the bottom and nothing else. There was more info on the inside, but no blurb on the back. She opened to the first page, the about the author section. Nanami had noised around on the page before. Every time seeing the photo of Izuru Kamakura felt uncanny in his resemblance to Hinata. 

Hinata shook his head, his voice cracked as he gestured for her to head to the back of the book. 

Nanami flicked through the pages of the book until she noticed Hinata put his tea back down. In front of her was just a few licensing/credit pages. About to raise an eyebrow, she noticed one last caramel page loosely wedged between the boom and the dust cover. She pulled it free and smoothed it out with her palm. The first line gave her the explanation she was looking for.

**Dedicated to my dear cousin, Hajime.**

“I had no idea he’d included that. I’ve had that copy for years and not once did I even think to read. So-” He tried to explain but his sentences kept getting broken up.

“So you weren’t expecting the book to be dedicated to you.?”  
  


He gave a crestfallen chuckle, “No, not in a million years. Not after they had to deal with me.”  
  


“I’m sure we were all handful growing up Hinata,” Nanami reassured him, but he shot it down.

“I wasn’t a handful, I was, well- problematic,” Hinata examined Nanami’s expression before he continued, “I don’t know how to put this, but I was angry at them. Not just Kamakura, but my whole family. They expected me to be myself, but I when I was, it just wasn’t good enough to them Was I missing something? So I acted out, rebelled kinda. I said a lot of things I regretted, especially, to him and just aggh-”

He buried his head in his hands and tore at the strands as he groaned in frustration. Nanami reached her hand out to him, 

“I’m sure whatever kind of things-”

Only one of his could be seen through his hair, but the one that was instantly shot her a look. Her hand shuddered to a halt.

“Racist things Nanami. Really fucking cruel shit.” Hinatas lip quivered as he spoke. Nanami didn’t need to know what he’s said. His response said it all. Realising, he was glaring at Nanami, he cast his glance to the side.

“How long ago did you say all those things?” Nanami queried. She silently flickered back a page to the publishing credits, to when the book had been published. Hinata merely shrugged.

“I don’t know” 

She watched as his hand twitched at the statement, but the rest of him stayed statue still. His eyes purposely kept away from the page.

Nanami could tell what that meant, but she just sighed. The book was closed as she pushed it out of the reach of both of them. Hinata was once again the first to speak up.

“Um, I know this isn’t any of your concern but, thank you for this Nanami.”

Though his head was still angled away from her, she could at least see both of his eyes now.

She simpered, “ It’s no problem. I couldn’t just leave you to cry in your room.”

He let out that same, back-handed laugh, “Trust me, you could’ve”  
Nanami forced a giggle in hopes of lightening the mood. It semi-worked.

It took a few more cups of teas and a lot more discussions about random topics to get Hinata back to one she’d met three weeks ago. At first, it was Hinata rambling about related issues in a joking manner. Knowing he’d probably fall into some kind of emotional trap this way, Nanami diverted the conversation. She asked him about what other kinds of books and films and he enjoyed. Hinata mentioned one of them to her and she stated how she’s only played the video-game it was based on. This spiraled into them talking about videogames for way too long. A cycle of Hinata bringing up what he did know about certain games, and Nanami correcting him.

“I can’t believe you played the sequel to the game, but not the original!” she jokily gasped. Although she was seriously tempted to run into her room right now and make him play the game. Hinata just laughed, 

“Nah, the protagonist just looked even more stupid to me than the second game. I mean, c’mon. He had a stupid haircut and everything.”

Once he said it, he immediately knew the irony in his statement. 

“Okay I know that’s rich coming from me”

Nanami giggled, “It’s not that bad Hinata, even if it is a little long, Oh have you-”  
  


Nanami continued to ramble about the game series he’d brought up. Something about how the spin-off was oddly much better in itself writing than the main three games, who her favourite from each game was. Hinata didn’t catch a lot of. He just nodded passively every now and then. He ran a hand through his har. Thinking about what Nanami had said, and what she’d mentioned him all those weeks okay.

**“Hey Nanami, would you cut my hair for me?”**

After that day, Nanami had noticed a gradual difference in Hinata. Other than his drastically shorter hair that is. It was the subtle things he started doing. Such as how he’d started greeting Nanami whenever he came home.Or how he’d offer to help her with her groceries. 

He even threw her a little celebration after she told him she’d gotten a new job. It wasn’t a big gesture, the man was broke. But she rarely saw the man cook properly for himself, so when he did for them she didn’t know what to say. 

It was why how he attacked this morning threw her off.

Only one working day at Hopes Peak Academy and she noticed cracks beginning to form. 

Hinata had said it himself, it was none of her concern, but-

Before she knew it she felt herself fumbling for her phone. She scrolled through the contacts until she laded on the name she was looking for, Chihiro Fujisaki.

Her finger hesitated above the call button before she closed her eyes and pressed it. It rang a few times before the person picked up. 

“Chiaki! It’s nice to hear from you, what can I help you with?”

“Hello Chihiro, I know you’re working at the moment, but do you think I could ask a favor from you?”

“Oh of course, what it is exactly?”  
  


Chiaki paused, “Y’know that feature you were mentioning to us the other day-”  
  


Chihiro immediately stumbled over their words, “Aa Chiaki, I know what you’re going to say and it’s too risky! I told you it puts them at a security risk in certain environments.”

“I know but, it’s for him Chihiro, I’m worried, please. I won’t overuse it just, please-”  
“Give me access to Haijme’s Usami.”

  
  
  


  
  


  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	7. - Dancing Bears -

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry I abandoned this for a while. I have my reasons but it's a long story so we ain't gonna go there. I'm still busy updates will still be whenever. Just not months apart again.  
> Thank you for your patience and happy new year <3

It was safe to say Soda was  **not** Usami's programmer. 

Or any kind of tech-genius for that matter.

"What the Soda, what the hell-"

Hinata stared down in baffled awe at the screen of the staff room computer. The screen just kept scrolling in an endless loop whilst a cartoon bear refused to stop dancing on the screen. And any interaction with it added more dancing bears. Safe to say after a few clicks Soda’s hand was swatted away from the mouse.

It looked like the troll malware a classmate would send you thinking it was a 'right laugh'. And to be fair, Soda passed as the kind of idiot who would click it. 

Soda grasped at his beanie, "Aah, I don't know man! I was just, minding my own business y'know? Then this shit popped up outta nowhere"

Hinata raised an eyebrow, "There's no way you didn’t do something"

His colleague shook his head, voice hitched. 

"C'mon Hinata, what kind of an idiot do you take me for?"  _ I won't answer that _ , "Of course I didn't do anything!"

Tanaka, Nevermind and Mikan were all watching the two idly squabble amongst themselves from their usual table. Though the same could be said for most of the staff room. Some seemed to find it entertaining and others were just hoping if they glared the two would catch on and let it go. 

Those people didn't know these two very well. 

The debate continued. 

"Okay okay, fine, Soda I believe you. But just tell me what you were doing beforehand. Then maybe I can help figure out what happened "

Soda chewed on his lip, tapping his finger against his chin, "Aghh well I was looking through some files I had for class. I wanted to print some answers out ready for the mock exam week. Just in the usual folders everyone shares, you know what I'm talking about "

Hinata shook his head, "I still don't have access to test resources Soda."

"Man you've been here like a month dude, you should really look into that-"

Hinata's tired expression said it all, so Soda resumed, 

"Oh right, anyway. I was doing this in my free period before lunch. But just before the bell was about to go, I heard someone scream in the hallway. So obviously I ran to go see if they were okay. It was some girl whining about something? I didn’t quite get what the big deal was. I tried to calm her, but luckily she snapped out of it pretty quick. After that it was lunch, so I said hey to you guys."

"And the computer?" Hinata asked. 

Soda shrugged, "I just left it. It had zoned out so I tapped the space bar to come back to it. Then, err, this."

He gestured his hand towards the bears on screen. 

"What an odd surprise" Hinata muttered. 

If he'd left it, then who even knows what someone might have done with the computer. 

Soda grimaced "Ikr. It's fricken weird, but that thing-”

Hinata Tilted his head, “What about it?”

Hinata’s colleague paused for a second, scratching the side of his head, “Idk, but I’ve seen it before? At least maybe I have? You know the feeling I’m talking about, right?”

Hinata looked back at the bear. Where the looping gif landed between hypnotic and acid trip he couldn't place. The bear had a relatively simple design. So Hinata guessed he could've seen it somewhere before. Perhaps build-a-bear, who honestly knows. 

It wasn’t a terrifying site by any means, it was just  _ there.  _ Hinata knew the longer he stared at it, the longer his mind was trying to convince him it was a familiar sight.

Soda took Hinata's silence as a no.

"Eh, well, either way, we gotta get it off of there."

Hinata chuckled, "We?"

"You made the mistake of trying to help me" 

Judging by the smug look on the rest of their friends’ face, Soda had a point. In both regards. If they didn’t shut the stupid thing up soon, Hinata knew the guy with the funny eyebrows was just itching to snitch on them to Togami. The man’s foot was tapping in an increasingly more irritated manner the longer the two were taking.

He looked to be the only one. Despite it being the main hub for staff, groups tended to come and go in the staff room. Thankfully the more chill group was here this time. Still not worth the risk of the outlier, however. 

“Alright, let’s just get this fixed before Togami-“ 

"Before Togami finds out?"

Hinata felt the sharp jolt as a Soda tried to cling to him. Resulting in the tiny yelp he emitted sounding more like a scream. Hinata himself didn't budge. He recognised that voice too well, unfortunately, to know Soda was worried over nothing. Well, not  _ nothing _ . 

"You two have been at this for a while. Lunch will finish before you do" Komaeda stated. 

His silver eyes stared down at the two men from across the room. He was situated between the entrance and Hinata’s coworker table. Casually leant against the wall. Soda and his eyes locked and a flush formed on Soda's face. 

"Jeez, dude! Don't scare us like that."

_ Trust me, you're the only one scared Soda.  _

How true that thought was Hinata wasn't entirely sure. Scared would be too mundane a word to describe his feelings towards his "friend who was sometimes not his friend". 

Komaeda smiled faintly, “My apologies, that was not my intention.”

Despite engaging in conversation with them, he didn’t move away from the wall.

Komaeda continued, “I realise how rude of me it is to interrupt, but I was just wondering what all the commotion was about.”

“Err, you what the short version, or the long version?” Soda asked.

“I’d ultimately prefer not to waste your time.”   
  


Hinata replied instead, “Soda was a dumbass and now there’s something on the school computer.”

Komaeda raised a lofty finger, and smirked “I asked Soda, Hinata.”

That smirk, oh how perfect a word it was to describe that odd expression on his face. That white-haired cryptic lil- Hinata shook his head.

Regardless of Komaeda’s presence, he knew he had other matters to attend to. Such as cleaning up after Soda's mess. 

It was clear Komaeda wasn’t the only one intrigued by the situation either. The eyebrow man from before had left, along with some of the others. The second the altercation with the computer had begun, they had eyes on them. At one of the points, he noticed some of the staff were edged on their seats. Ready if the two gave up. It was only when Komaeda became part of the equation that their minor eagerness turned to major hesitation. 

It was something Hinata thought about as he fiddled about with the computer. About Komaeda.

It was no secret the man had, well secrets. Try as Hinata might, it was hard to resist that bittersweet conspiracy theory. 

Whenever he had a spare moment in his more angelic classes, all that plagued his mind was the what-ifs, the whos and the whats. He still had no idea who this  _ she _ was, but he had a sneaking suspicion Komaeda did. 

**Especially after last Friday.**

\---

It was edging the end of the week and though things were arguably running a lot smoother today, it had still been a long day. Thankfully, his prayers had been answered and the school's chime rang throughout the building. It didn't have to tell him twice. 

Scooping up his belongings, he dismissed the class to their cleaning duties. They went about gathering the supplies for their designated classrooms with little to no fuss. Hinata took their angelic nature as an opportunity to slip away as quickly as he could. He speed-walked down the halls. That classroom had been on the top floor however. He encountered a speed bump on the way there. 

A familiar student of his. 

"Hey, Sensei Hinata! That you?" 

He slowed down to look over his shoulder. One of the girls from a class of his was sticking her head out from a janitor's closet. Hinata struggled remembering her name, so mentally addressed her as "girl genius." 

"You got a second? I need to ask something" 

That was of course rhetorical; she was already approaching when she asked. Hinata held back a sigh and nodded.

"Sweet!" She grinned, adjusting the goggles on her head, "So about that book you suggested, the one by that emo guy."

"My cousin?" he replied. He made his desire to leave clear as he kept walking, but she just tagged along.

"Yeah that's the one. Well I read it, and it isn't terrible" 

"I'm sure his career was really riding on that deep analysis." Hinata quipped. The girl scoffed a retort, 

"Not all of us get paid to drool over textbooks." 

She paused for a moment, before continuing, "But, I've gotta admit. It's cheesy, and lil on the nose- but I liked it. Even told a few people about it too. One of my teachers digged it. Said he was already a fan."

"Huh, really-? Small world." 

She shrugs, "He seems the like type who gets off on all that allegory stuff. Even with that sarcastic spunk you've got to ya, I'm sure you two would hit it off." 

Hinata tried not to chuckle to encourage her crass attitude. He could barely keep up with his new-friends, his almost-friends and Komaeda, as it was. But he was going to humour her idea, "Charming, who is he?" 

"Ugh I can't really remember his name, I'm not fond of his class. I think it starts with a Ko-"

As if he was on Hinata's mental autocorrect; "Komaeda?"

The girl perked up, "Shoot yeah, you know him-?"

Her eyes honed in on Hinata's expression. How his eyes had widen, and that blank “I’m trying to get through the day” smile had transformed into one a semi genuine smile.The girl genius grinned,

"O h, you  **know** , know him eyy? ~." 

"What's that meant to mean?" 

Girl genius just tutted at him. Fussing around with her uniform as she continued, “You must be a great teacher; I think I'm getting pretty great at this translation business. For example, I aaha-“

Looking down at her chest she must’ve spotted something and without warning stuck her hand down there. Hinata immediately turned his head the other way at the crude gesture, continuing to walk through the halls. Prominently, she pulled out a piece of folded up paper, holding it out to Hinata. She cleared her throat,

“And since i know that means you and K are a thing, you can take this to him for me.” 

Hinata stopped in his tracks. His student pouted at his lack of reaction. Shoving the homework into the air, where she expected his hands to be. After a moment of nothing, he took the paper away from her. Sniggers escaping his mouth as he tried to reply. He had no choice but to have his bag slouch to his side so he could cover his mouth. The student continued to stare on in an idle pout as Hinata tried to stop his giggling fit. He coughed into his hand, staggering out the laughter. Soon having it come to a close as he straightened his tie.

“Ugh, no I’m so sorry, that was inappropriate. I’ll take your-“ Hinata unfolded the paper, taking a quick glance. “Homework?”

The girl nodded, dropping her pout now he was paying attention again. Hinata gave a mutual response, taking another look at the paper. Komaeda had most likely mentioned what subject he did at some point, but Hinata definitely wasn’t listening. Fortunately, he didn’t have to decode anything as “Psychology” was scribbled at the top. Hinata sighed; yep. What else he noticed, was the date plastered in the right hand corner causing his eyebrow to raise.

“When was this due?”

She looked back at him and shrugged, “Eh, doesn’t matter, but it’s done now ain’t it?”

Hinata frowned, “That’s very unlike you. You’ve handed in every assignment I’ve set. Sometimes even earlier than asked of you.” 

As Hinata asked she repeated the same gesture. Twiddling with a loose lock of her hair, 

“Well you see teach,” she stated, “The crap you set is fucking easy. All I gotta do is shove my face in a textbook enough times till my tits turn numb and boom. I’ve passed the assignment. Comes naturally to me, you know? But whatever K sets? Can’t wrap my head around it most of the time. Unfortunately people can’t be read as easily as text books”

Hinata blinked.

_ I mean, she’s not wrong. _

His gaze returned to the paper. 

He took the time to look at the contents of the work in front of him and he quickly scrowled, 

“You wrote an essay. On me?” 

The girl genius cackled, “geez, I was waiting for ya to realise. I even state your full name and everything.”

It was her turn to laugh in this conversation and Hinatas to groan. Checking back, it was true. The gremlin had underlined it and everything.  **Hajime Hinata.** He was about to throw the paper back at his student when she raised her hands in defense. Still laughing.

“Wait wait, cool ye jets. I ain’t anything negative.” 

Hinata raised an eyebrow. Thinly holding onto the paper with a tired sigh, “Go on”

The girl genius cleared her throat,

“It was on first impressions. And it was set on the day I met you so I thought it would be good. But I’m sorry, guess I should’ve asked ye huh?”

Hinata had held back another sigh, but he shook his head.

“No you’re right it’s fine. It’s for your education,” He folded the paper back up. Slipping it into his dress shirt pocket, “I’ll take it to him, but only if you go do your work.”

Vaguely, he gestured to the hallway behind him

He mustered a thread-thin smile as he picked up his bag and began to walk off once more. She didn’t have to look at him for Hinata to know the girl had a smug look on her face as she darted down the halls. Her loud shouts to her cleaning classmates echoed down them. As did the firm stomp of her boots. There was hesitation from Hinata before he was certain she’d left for him to call upon Usami. 

It took the two of them a good five minutes of room checking and re-directing. If there was one thing Hinata missed about American schooling, it was that teachers tended to be in set rooms. Meanwhile, it was reversed over in Japan. Something he knew he would adore as a student. Sucks for him that he wasn’t that young anymore.

After one final debate with debate with Usami as to ehy he couldn't just stick a tracker on him, they finally stumbled upon Komaeda. They’d almost missed him as well. The man was tucked away on one of the tables at the back of the staff room. It was only due to his wild sticking out that Hinata noticed him at all.

“Hey Komaeda!” Hinata called out.

The pale man visibly flinched at his name being called. His silver eyes darting upwards at the mention of it. Peeking his head around the pillar.

“Um, bad time?” Hinata asked. He stopped approaching him. Komaeda’s look of hesitance reflected his own. But the other teacher shook their head.

“No it’s fine. What is it?”

As Hinata continued to approach his colleague, he heard the rustling of papers and zipping of a bag. It wasn’t a long walk so Hinata was able to catch on to what Komaeda was doing. Afterall the man had awkwardly spread his folded arms over a table. A table which had a bunch of papers scattered on them. Despite how obvious it was, his expression had defaulted back to it’s usual conceding state.

Hinata removed the homework from his pocket.

“One of the students in my class said she had some overdue work she wanted to give you.”

Hinata’s hand was outstretched for a while, before Komaeda responded, 

“Could you just leave it on the table?” 

He tapped at the table with one of his worn down nails. Not budgeting from his shielding of the papers.

“Yeah of course” Hinata muttered, doing as he was asked. He was about to turn away and call his day quits when he put his foot down. No, he could buy himself some time . Hinata was going to get a glimpse of whatever Nagito was scheming whether he liked it or not. So naturally-

“Say are you coming next Friday? It’s Tanaka’s turn to host then mine.”

Hinata fixated on Komaeda. Who starred are back through a white veil of loose hairs. Komaeda responded,

“Excuse me rudeness in absence. I’d appreciate it if you were to alert the other two on my behalf, but no.”

_ What’s wrong with just saying no?  _

Komaeda continued, “Moreover, I’m surprised to hear you of all people would be hosting.”

“Ah yeah, Soda insisted, so-“ Hinata muttered. Komaeda just gave a kurt hum in response, turning his head away from his questioner. And in turn, the small talk. Hinata should’ve also guessed the man would catch on to what Hinata was trying to do.

Yet, it was in that moment, he got what he was looking for. Idly, Komaeda lifted his wrist. He picked up the folded paper between his two fingers. Revealing a small scrap of information. Within the tiny scrap he was given he could just make out the names of the troubled five.

Monaca, Nagisa, Kotoko, Jataro, and, Masaru.

That was the problem with Komaeda. He gives you an answer, and now you’re stuck with fifty more questions.

_ Did he do that one purpose? _

_ Why were their names listed? _

How much did Komaeda know?

If there was one thing Hinata did know, it was that this conversation was certainly dead.

“Uh, I’ll see you Monday. Have a good evening.” he did a vague wave as he walked away from the table.

“Have a good evening Hinata.” Komaeda only replied out of common courtesy as he watched the man leave the room. The smirk returned to his face once he was gone. He ran a bony hand through his hair.

“That was a close one, I was lucky there.” he commented. Once he was done pushing the hair out of his eyes, Komaeda was reminded of the paper in his hand. The one Hinata had felt the need to interrupt him for. With his other hand returned, he unfolded the paper. It’s author explained how late it was. However, it was the contents that made Komaeda chuckle.

That girl had no idea what Hinata was actually like.

Komaeda added the paper on top of the pile already there. As if he was adding to a collection. 

Absolutely no idea.

—-

“Oh I have absolutely no clue” Komaeda said in response to Soda, “Computers aren’t in my specific skill pool.”

“What do you mean? Why butt in if you can’t help” Soda grunted.

At this point Hinata wasn’t sure where the two of them were with their conversation. He was too busy remembering. Remembering why he bothered to help that is. Afterall, he was in the same space as Komaeda here, computers suck. Especially this one.

“Well would it kill you to look at it Komaeda?” Soda retorted, his pitch hitched slightly. Eyebrows had been gone a while, meaning they were quickly running out of time. 

“No, it wouldn't, ” Komaeda replied. Yet he made no effort to move, he just shrugged.

Soda should have taken the beanie with how much he tugged at it. “Komaeda-“

It took Komaeda a second to realise, “Oh right, sure.”

The man shoved his hands in his pockets before wandering over to where Hinata was. Komaeda was taller than most, including Hinata. So he didn't have to move him out of the way to get a proper look. Which sucked more so for Hinata who felt like a tree branch was leaning over him. Smelt like it too. Hinata wasn’t sure how or why he could describe it. Yet, Komaeda had an aroma of cut grass and medicine. Neither of which Hinata deemed appealing. But at least he didn't smell like hamsters or motor oil.

Which only propelled him to quickly find a solution so he’d stop thinking about this-

Thankfully he noticed how one of the USB safety caps looked off coloured. He tugged at it. Digging his nails in around the sides to loosen it 

There was a clink as he pulled out a USB from the port. Followed by what Hinata thought was ticking from the computer.

At the movement Komaeda had already stepped away, standing next to Soda.

Hinata’s eyes scanned over it and he frowned. The plug itself was bigger than the handle of the USB. Meaning there was no distinct design to it. Just some random numbers on the plug part. That of which Hinata discarded as a serial number. 

Hinata offered it to Soda, who took it, but soon shook his head too.

Instead, Soda handed it to Komaeda. Soda wasn’t paying too much attention to Komaeda as he did. He just kept his hand held there waiting for a “no.”

Those silver eyes lost their shine when he saw it. His gaze lingered a split second before it warped. 

Hinata was too focused on the rapidly resolved screen to see it coming. Soda did. 

Komaeda had dropped the usb on the floor. With the heel of his boot he swiftly ground it down. His face scrunched up as he applied as much force as a frail man could muster.

The loud crunch and thud of Komaeda's actions seemed to have alerted everyone in the staff room again. Everyone was staring over at the man. Even their friends scrowled at the suddenness.

"Bro that's kinda overkill don't you think?!" Soda hissed, 

"Couldn't we have used that as evidence or something?" 

Komaeda didn’t get time to answer, for a second Hinata turned away from the screen the ticking stopped. And instead, a siren wailed.

“A BODY HAS BEEN DISCOVERED”

“A BODY HAS BEEN DISCOVERED”

“A BODY HAS BEEN DISCOVERED”

“A BODY HAS-“

Soda yanked his beanie over his ears as it endlessly looped in it’s grating, cheery tone. 

“Hinata turn that shit off-“ 

“I’m trying damn it-“ Hinata groaned. One hand covered his ear while the over started pressing buttons, any buttons. Just as long as it would stop. His eyes squinted as the screen flashed a bright red screen at an uncomfortable pace. 

This caused Mikan to jump from her idle standby. By now most of the staff had either fled with discomfort or had fone other to Tanaka and Nevermind to ask what on earth was happening. 

“Please some of the staff have epilepsy, shield it or something!” 

With people starting to gather, she squeezed her way out of the booth and towards them. She took off her apron and clumsily flung it over the monitor.

It barely did anything besides frame her the second Togami walked in.

He had had his fingers tightly shoved in his ears. Face like a smacked arse.

He had to shout even louder than usual over the blaring,

“YOu Four, my OFFice, NOW.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	8. - The same way -

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cries in A levels. I’m currently balancing writing for a lot of things. So writing fanfics is something I unfortunately haven’t had time for.   
> Im sorry it’s not much, but I thought I’d leave you guys on a non cliffhanger for once. Give you some breathing room

Within mere minutes everyone had evacuated the area. Between the persistent shrill ringing of both the computer’s and Togami’s voice, it’s not as if people wanted to stay there. The other teachers didn’t wait to be instructed by Togami. Some cut in front of him, meanwhile some lingered behind Togami because he cut in. Waiting for Togami to lead the four troublemakers to his office. 

Komaeda followed without a bat of an eyelash. Followed by a silently protestant Hinata and his two friends. Hinata noticed Nevermind and Tanaka cast a distant gaze at their backs. Yet when the bell rang, they too left the four. 

The walk there was Togami's lecture to the group. 

Oh no, he spoke not a word. But the bitter muttering and tight side-eyes were punishment enough. As it was the end of their break, students, as well as teachers, were bustling through the halls. The academy may have been a grand building, but that grandness was of very little use when it was all height. Students were constantly bumping into them. Either on purpose in hopes of a hello, or due to a slip for those more accident-prone. The skidding of feet and hushed apologizes was a constant on what should have been a brisk journey.

That shiny golden plack of Togami's office, at last, came into Hinata’s sights. He turned around to check up on Soda and the nurse when something else caught his attention. Utsugi. She was just idly standing by the water dispenser. Hinata only noticed her as he was in search of pink hair. Yet when her eyes pierced into his, a frigid shiver ran down his spine. She put her hand over her face as she giggled. Before she briskly turned on her heels and skipped away. 

He soon found who he was actually looking for; Soda. He too was watching Utsugi. 

They locked eyes with each other.

Neither of them said anything.

—-

Once in Togami’s office, Mikan promptly shut the door behind them. The light buzz of natter was diminished. Replaced with the starkness of nothing, except the click of Togami’s heels. 

Hinata had been here before. Yet, only briefly.

A small check-in with the businessman himself. Nothing more than what he now realised was a “congratulations on not quitting” talk. After all that had unfolded, he understood why Togami felt the need to talk to him weeks prior. Quitting, of course, wasn’t an option. He had bills to pay.

A jumbled weight shifted in his stomach when he sat down. Soda stood behind him. Mikan fumbled onto the other whilst Komaeda leaned into the corner. 

Togami took his place behind the desk. He rubbed his ear lobe, face winced. An expression some of them shared when Togami glared at them

“Do you have any idea why you're here?" Togami didn’t sit. His tone was quieter but laced with grit non the less.

Soda attempted to raise his hand, but it was shot down quickly. 

“Rhetorical Soda, Rhetorical,” Togami muttered. He made haste in pulling some pieces of paper out of one of his desk drawers, “Besides, you’re a grown man you don't need my permission to speak.” 

The look on both his and Soda’s face said otherwise. Hinata fidgeted in his seat. Unsure who exactly had their eyes on him. Or if it was just the weight in his stomach telling him so.

Togami looked at them all, muttered again before he switched around the papers. 

“Anyway, I’ll make this brief so you waste no more time.” He stated,” And Lord, stop shaking, you’re not all in trouble.”

Hinata taking note of the word “all” didn’t help. Still, he watched as Togami spread four sets of paper across his desk. Each one close enough to the teachers. Looking at each other in confirmation, they each reached out and grabbed one. Togami hadn’t stopped talking, yet Hinata skimmed through the pages. At the top of the page were the basics for a survey. Name, Date, and so forth. The words “ **CRISIS MANAGEMENT”** were not.

“Don’t be alarmed Hinata, it’s just a standard form.” Togami acknowledged the man with a vague flick of his wrist in his direction.

“This may not be a crisis, but it asks the appropriate questions. So it will do.”

Hinata’s gaze switched between the Togami and the sheet. He opened his mouth, but the businessman spoke first, “Naturally I assume you won’t have any issues. If a computer can fill out a form then, I’m certain you can.” 

Togami’s vile grimace faltered slightly as he pushed his glasses. The man stepped out from behind his desk. Arms crossed. At this point, Togami's conversation was one way. Not one of the four-spoke. Even if Hinata had thought to, he’d certainly fought not to say it. A fact that loosened Togami’s frown.

“Splendid,” he spoke dryly, approaching the office door, “Fill those in as soon as possible. Preferably before I return. I'll judge them soon.”

There was a moment of silence before Soda spluttered out a whine, “wait, wait, where are you going-.?”

When Togami turned to look at him he promptly added an “if you please sir” to the end of it. To answer, Togami turned the handle and opened the door. Most people had gone to their classes so the buzz from before had vanished. Togami stepped into the hall.

“None of your concern.”

With that, the door was closed on the four of them. No sooner had he been lecturing them, was the man gone. 

Togami’s stare may have been gone, but now Hinata felt two other pairs of eyes on. With a caught breath, he meets their gazes. The first was Komaeda’s. At this point, not feeling those grey eyes staring into him was peculiar discomfort of itself. From the time he’s been working here, Hinata was so accustomed to the inconsistency of his and Komaeda’s relationship that it had done a flip on itself. At first, he’d thought the other was Mikan, but she was already fiddling around on Togami’s desk for a pen. Her eyes occasionally darted to the door. No, the other stare was Soda’s who had now restored to leaning against the wall. He’d fished out a pen from one of his many pockets whilst he went from looking at Hinata to the paper. When he realised Hinata had caught on, his eyes fell back to the paper. Soda clicked his pen and began to scribble something down.

Hinata lingered for a moment. Just to see if he actually wanted anything. Before he too went to reach for his pen. One of the bonuses of teaching a written-based subject was that he always had about ten of the things on him. He grabbed one from his trouser pocket. Noticing he’s officially collected everyone’s attention now. 

Mikan looked at his pen. Her weary hand gestured to it and for once Hinata got the memo. Remembering how she’d left her pocketed apron back in the staff. He reached back into his pocket and he pulled another out. With a gentle throw, he gave it to her. To which she caught we a surprising lack of fumbling. Immediately she leant against the desk and started writing. Nimble hands making quick work of the first page.

“In a hurry by any chance?” Hinata queried. He placed the form on his leg for support and he started jotting down his own answers.

It took a minute for the nurse to reply, “O-oh um yes I am. I have an appointment soon and-” 

She trailed off, her brow furrowing as she stopped at one of the questions.

“You do appointments for students?” Hinata raised an eyebrow.

“No no, not appointments really. It’s just, well… some students get hurt a lot so-”

Hinata frowned at the notion. Mikan shook her head and rushed to clarify, still scribbling away, “No, it’s not like that! Just still like small bruises. Y’know how boisterous some of the students are,” 

She let out a little chuckle, but it died with a whimper when she realised Hinata had stopped listening. Having returned back to his own form, she did the same.

Hinata still couldn’t remove that weight he felt in his stomach and Mikan had made it heavier. Komaeda let out a sigh at the exchange. 

But it was fine. Hinata couldn’t let it burden him. He could worry when he wasn’t getting paid by the hour. Though knowing him, it would be whenever his brain decided to wander next. 

Form, right form.

Hinata watched as his hand took over. It skimmed across the pages and filled in any blanks he could without having to call upon his mind. Occasionally, his deadpan expression would twist into a frown. Some questions just were so bizarre he couldn’t quite fathom why they’d be of concern. He flicked throught the few pages, gradually narrowing down the amount of blank spaces left. Those he didn’t particularly have a response for, he wrote generic one word replies to. Which was most of them.

He was ¾ a way through when Mikan finished, 

Togami hadn’t given them specific instructions so she just left it, and Hinata’s pen where she had been writing. 

There was a brief moment where she looked back at her co-workers, before she showed herself out. Leaving three. 

Soon to be two.

Seeing how Mikan had left already, Komaeda placed his form next to hers and also left. Hinata was unsure why he hadn’t left sooner if he was done, but it wasn’t like Komaeda hadn’t done weirder things. 

With a final jagged movement, Hinata signed his form on the last page. He got up to place his overtop of Komaeda’s signed papers. The chair creaked as he did. Soda looked up from his form. In turning to leave, Hinata caught the look he was given. He paused, taking a moment to take in the other man's expression. His eyebrows were tilted downwards, but not in a furrow. Despite clearly looking at Hinata, his gaze twitched to make it seem like he wasn’t. His smile was non-existent. 

With a sigh, Hinata knew it couldn’t go un-pressed

“I’ll bite; what’s wrong dude?”

Soda hesitated to respond. At first he just shook his head before he tucked his own pen behind his ear. Joining Hinata, he placed his form on the desk.

“Eh It’s nothing major,” he managed, but managed wasn’t good enough.

“C’mon Soda, Don’t you pull this cryptic bullshit too.” Hinata’s tone was firm. And like that door, it wasn’t going to budge till he got something.

Soda shoved his hands in his pockets, posture slouched.

They made eye contact and the physics teacher knew there wasn’t a going back. He took his time for sure to form his words, but Hinata waited.

“Ye know what this school’s like. How chaotic it is and all, right?” Soda began,

Hinata gave a hearty nod, oh boy did he know.

Soda continued, “Well ye see, ugh. I really don’t know how to put this-“

Hinata had looked away for a brief second to put his pen in his pocket. Enough of an excuse for Soda to falter at his words. 

“No no, it’s really stupid.”

Hinata quick-flipped his attention back to his friend, “huh, no, no whats really stupid is you not letting yourself talk about it.”

He stepped closer to Soda, noticing how the man looked as if he might step back as Hinata did so. Though Hinata remained form, he soften the edges of his approach,

“Hey whatever it is, I’m not here to judge you. I’m just worried. You’re the only guy I can rely on in this place for a semblance of clarity, this isn’t like you.”

At those words, Soda’s gaze stabilized for a second. Long enough for Hinata to see that dying spark light up again. 

“Aa shucks, you mean it?” Soda’s head tilted slightly. 

Hinata smiled, “Of course! Did you really think I’d place more trust in someone like Nagito than I would you.”

Hinata heard something creak as he spoke. Eh, probably him shifting his weight. The remark earned a husk of a chuckle from Soda.

“Huh, funny you should mention em.” Soda added and Hinata held his breath. It couldn't be good news then. Soda paused at Hinata's reaction, but he reassured him with a nod.

Soda continued, “Well, I’m kinda new here. Not  _ you  _ levels of new, but Tanaka and Nevermind, they got a gig here in a blink of an eye. Like them I also believe Komaeda’s been here for a while too. But- in the time I’ve been here I keep noticing things. I thought maybe it was just because they didn’t like me or something. But, you’ve noticed it too! Right?! The hushed whispers from Komaeda and that girl-! The pink one,”

Hinata's eyes widened, his tone peaked in interest, “Utsugi?”

“Yeah yeah, her,” Soda responded quickly, Hinata doubted he knew the name but it was confirmation, “You saw the creepy little giggle she didn’t you? Well, that’s the girl who distracted me before this whole mess happened. Before that stupid bear.”

Doing a double take, Hinata blinked, “You’re certain?” 

Soda firmly nodded, “Abouselty, same pinkness. Same grin, same everything.”

There was a short crack in the conversation as Hinata paused. Humming to himself. He looked at Soda, how the man was clutching onto his collar, the short glance back.

“What are you getting at exactly?” Hinata replied.

“That you feel the same way I do. That they know what we don’t!” They all do.” 

There was a sudden drop in Hinata’s stomach. Fuck. Finally.

A weight felt like it had be discarded temporarily, he smiled,

“Yeah, yeah, I do. I know I haven’t been here long, but man is that not what it feels like.” Hinata groaned in relief, placing his hand on the desk table. Yet, when Soda didn’t jump in again, he knew the but was coming.

Soda bit his lip,

“I’m glad I’m not the only one, really, but- recent events worry me. Before it didn’t really matter, teacher problems y’know. But, well I’m worried. Worried that the students got dragged into this too-“

“Woah, woah, what’s this?” Hinata cut him off. Gently he tried to shimmer him. It was nice to see him talk finally, but he was leaning into cryptic territory. It didn’t particularly work as he felt the other teacher get closer, reaching out for Hinata’s hand. Nudging him to follow.

“It might be better if I just show you.” Soda clarified. Hinata began to move leantly to Soda’s grasp. But he was grounded when he heard his phone spring to life in his pocket. 

“Hinata wait!” The sparkly voice he immediately recognised as Usami, “ You have a class to tend to.” 

Both the men halted when the voice spoke. Soda cussed under his breath. Running his hand through his hair, he let go of the hand holding Hinata’s

“Right, me too, me too,” Soda muttered, looking back at Hinata, “You free after your shift?” 

Usami actually interjected, reminding him that he had planning to do so when he got home. The gravity of the rabbits' reminders however, were lost on him.

“Cancel it Usami, I’ll do it later.” Hinata spoke. The rabbit didn’t respond, he just assumed she’d do as such. He looked back up, smiling at Soda. 

“Yeah I can meet you, where though?”

Soda returned the smile with his, “Car park sound good?”

“Sounds perfect, I’ll see you there.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
